Srini’s claims fly in face of hard facts

In his stonewalling ways adorned by Teflon-coated resistance to any criticism on conflicts of interest striking at the very heart of the BCCI and IPL, N. Srinivasan is cocking a snook at the principle of those in public life being bound by the highest ethical standards.

He is also daring fellow BCCI members to oust him as they are nowhere near commanding the two-thirds majority necessary. His Kolkata press conference on the eve of IPL-6’s final raised far more questions than providing answers to key issues regarding the administration of the nation’s premier sport.
The alleged nexus of his son-in-law with the betting mafia that is being probed by the Mumbai police crime branch brings up the definitive link with anti-national overtones established by the fact that profits from cricket betting flow to rackets that are controlled by fugitive Dawood Ibrahim. Far from stepping down till the probe runs its course, Mr Srinivasan brought up a pedantic line of argument over principles of natural justice dictating that a man is presumed innocent until proved guilty.
Even if we concede that natural justice must prevail, how impartial is a BCCI inquiry commission of three members with just one independent member to go into the Gurunath Meiyappan issue? The two members of the IPL operational committee can simply overrule the independent member in any crucial matter that crops up while trying to establish what exactly was Gurunath’s role in IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings, incidentally owned by India Cements, of which Mr Srinivasan is the managing director.
The assertions by Mr Srinivasan and his company, in their bid to conveniently distance themselves from Mr Meiyappan, fly in the face of hard evidence in the form of badges and visiting cards identifying his role as that of “Team Principal”, showing him to be a key member of the management who bid for players at auctions and who is privy to all inside information on team composition, strategy and expert forecasts about playing conditions. To dismiss him simply as an “enthusiastic” cricket traveller was the height of obfuscation that belittles the intelligence of millions of cricket followers and fans.
It’s strange that politicians who get up each morning wondering whose resignation should be sought from the government’s ranks have remained silent on this issue although they too are important functionaries of the Indian cricket board. Internal inquiries are unlikely to strike at the heart of the matter. Also, cleaning up the game, including the IPL, is an urgent task considering how the topmost BCCI functionary and his son-in-law have brought things to such a sorry pass.