BCCI President Sourav Ganguly Doesn't Want Conflict Of Interest For Cricketers

Sourav Ganguly has been doing a fine job at BCCI by actively taking part in all BCCI-related activities. He played an important role in staging India’s historic day-night Test against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in front of a tightly-packed crowd. India got the better of India Bangladesh by an innings and 46 runs to register their maiden victory in the pink-ball format.

He then recently discussed some productive ideas in the board’s Annual General Meeting in Mumbai. The Ganguly-led team proposed to put an end to the Supreme Court-mandated administrative reforms on contract cap of the board’s office-bearers. If granted by the Supreme Court, the move will see Sourav Ganguly continue in his post as BCCI president till 2024 period.

Unable to get former greats due to Conflict of interest: Sourav Ganguly

Case in point, according to per Lodha recommendations, Sourav Ganguly cannot hold more than one post in India’s governing body. It has been learnt that in recent past, conflict of interest has been a huge area of concern for Indian cricket. Anurag Thakur resigned as BCCI president in 2017. Following that, several former great players were unable to contribute to Indian cricket due to Conflict of Interest clause.

The former greats like Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble were in a situation where they let go of their dual responsibilities for different other commitments. Ganguly revealed that he hasn’t been able to bring former cricketers on board due to conflict of interest. He stressed on the fact that the conflict of interest should only apply to administrators and not for cricketers. The only way to get rid of it is to deal with it.

“I am unable to get ex-cricketers on board because of the Conflict of Interest. (We need to deal with) Conflict of Interest with a lot of common sense. Someone like Sachin had to leave. It’s got to be practical. Conflict of interest should apply only to administrators and cricketers should be left out of it,” he said at the India Today Conclave (East).

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It is to be noted that even the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly were roped in as part of a three-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) but had to resign after Conflict of Interest charges were brought against them. After they stepped down from the respective posts, the former India captain Kapil Dev was appointed the chairman of the committee, including Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy.

However, after giving an extension period to India’s head coach Ravi Shastri, Kapil Dev and his team resigned from their posts leaving the committee empty. It will be quite interesting to see whether BCCI President Sourav Ganguly can get rid of the conflict of interest clause. If successful, then Indian cricket might benefit a lot.