New Delhi, Oct. 26: Questions over Sunil Gavaskar’s role in the consortium powering the Kochi franchise had added a new dimension to the IPL governing council meeting in Nagpur on Wednesday, which till this weekend was just limited to deciding the fate of the faction-ridden team.
The franchise, struggling to resolve its internal differences, says Gavaskar has been assisting them in an advisory capacity, ever since he declined to continue as an Indian Premier League governing council member a month ago.
“We approached him after he said no to the IPL job. He’s been part of the setup ever since,” the Kochi franchise chief executive Shailendra Gaekwad confirmed to this newspaper on Tuesday. “He accepted the role after we asked him following the previous governing council meet.”
Gavaskar was a part of the governing council for the first three years of the IPL, but opted out of the committee this year after when board decided to stop paying the members.
Interestingly, though, the franchise’s claim has been refuted by Gavaskar himself who said he had been approached by Kochi but made it clear that he is yet to take a call. “They have asked me individually and collectively to come in for the cricketing part of the team. I will take a call once the internal issues are resolved,” he was quoted as saying. “Kochi is not the only team which has approached me. I have not decided anything as yet.
“I have been approached for taking care of their cricketing operations and there is nothing in writing. Let all their internal issues get resolved and afterwards, may be...,” he added.
The move to hire Gavaskar had been aimed at keeping the cricket operations untouched from the internal squabbling among the shareholders, but the confusion surrounding it has made the franchise’s position even weaker ahead of Wednesday’s meet. The Board of Control for Cricket in India said it was unaware Gavaksar was working with the consortium.
“We were not aware of Gavaskar’s links with the Kochi side,” BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla said. “We were never informed because this issue was never there. This is for the first time we are coming to know about this. We will discuss the issue in the meeting tomorrow,” he added.
The meeting has been convened by board president Shashank Manohar to either decide who between the two warring factions — Rendezvous Sports or the rival group led by Anchor’s Mehul Shah — will run the day-to-day affairs of the team, or scrap the franchise altogether.
The two parties have had a series of meetings themsleves , but haven’t been able to come to a consensus.