The uncertainty over who will lead the cricket board towards a better working climate and resurrect its image is over. Shashank Manohar, who headed the BCCI in 2008-11, is back at the helm with unanimous backing by East Zone members, whose turn it was to nominate the chief. The straight-talking lawyer with an immaculate record as president is probably the best person to try bring back the board’s image as the nation’s best administered sports body.
The removal of corrupting influences of previous regimes dominated by South Zone strongman and ICC chairman N. Srinivasan should go a long way towards a cleanup. Never short of funds, the BCCI must return to the basics of good governance, with decisions and personnel choices made on merit and record of service than blind allegiance to one man.
The IPL scandal, with both match and spot-fixing and betting by people within the inner circle, had reduced the BCCI’s image to tatters. Endless litigation was unlikely to bring back its old authority. Had Mr Srinivasan taken the moral high ground and moved out the minute his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was found actively involved in wagering on IPL cricket, the BCCI would have facilitated the reform process two years ago.
One man’s refusal to accept he was wrong and repeated pleas in court to head the BCCI or attend its meetings after being compulsorily deposed by a Supreme Court diktat led to such a sorry mess that it shackled Indian at a time it should be leading world cricket. The crores spent in legal battles to prop up one-man rule set the board back not only in the money spent but also cast doubts on its very raison d’être.
The board’s dalliance with dangerous practices like hiring hacking firms to spy on its behalf also led to the suspicion that it was behind the Lalit Modi-Sushma Swaraj email leaks, further muddying cricket-politician links, without which the BCCI’s smooth working is not considered possible. The arrangement in which Jagmohan Dalmiya, who was not in good health, was trying to run the board was unsatisfactory, leading to an individual’s dominance: Secretary Anurag Thakur.
The incoming president has already chalked out an action plan to clean up the Augean stables.
Given Shashank Manohar’s reputation for calling a spade a spade, there is every chance his direct approach will help bring in badly needed transparency and re-establish the democratic principles destroyed by regimes where administrators also grabbed a commercial interest in the game via IPL. The board must initiate reforms like putting out its accounts in the public domain. The new president has promised an open era, and Indian cricket is certain to benefit from a dose of honesty.
