NEW DELHI: With the BCCI’s top officials having been stopped by the Supreme Courtfrom transacting any business related to BCCI, the board finds itself on itself on slippery wicket as the England team is due to arrive in a week’s time for three ODIs and three T20Is.
The board had all along maintained that implementing the Lodha Committee’s recommendations in toto would force them to stall cricketing activities and cancel international fixtures. Barred from releasing funds, the board was allowed to spend on the Test series against England after filing request petition in the apex court.
Monday’s development has now brought in a new sense of uncertainty. “With all state associations forced to comply with the recommendations, most of the senior state officials stand ineligible to operate. Eventually, a match is hosted by the local association and all of a sudden you don’t know who is in charge. The entire board is in a state of confusion,” a top BCCI official told TOI on Monday.
Every time the board threatened to stop cricket, the Lodha panel insisted that it wouldn’t do anything that would affect the game and the fans adversely. “Everything was going fine so far. The England team is due to play India A on Jan 10 and Jan 12 in Mumbai. The first ODI is in Pune on Jan 15. And both the associations don’t have their heads in Sharad Pawar and Ajay Shirke. So many people will lose their signing authorities which is essential to host international teams. We will now have to rearrange everything and see what can be done,” added the official.
The state associations open tenders for in stadia rights, catering and decorators. According to the official, the board has to ensure that each person who signs on documents should be an eligible official.
The other two ODIs are in Cuttack and Kolkata, and three T20s in Kanpur, Nagpur and Bangalore.