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BCCI is not looking for an escape route, says Anurag Thakur

BCCI averred that it was not looking for an escape route but had every right†to deliberate on the pros and cons of the report.

New Delhi: Pushed onto the back foot after a Supreme Court rap on Thursday asking it to implement the Lodha committee recommendations on reforms, the Board for Control of Cricket in India averred that it was not looking for an escape route but had “every right” to deliberate on the pros and cons of the report.

“The BCCI is not looking for an escape route,” board secretary Anurag Thakur said here on Friday.

“We believe in transparency and accountability. In the last nine months, we have done things which would indicate that we are moving in the right direction.

“The Lodha committee has recommended many things but every member has right to look into the recommendations,” he pointed out. Thakur said there were areas that needed studying, particularly with reference to office-bearers’ terms and revenue generation that had come under fire in the Lodha report.

“In 1983, when India won the World Cup, we did not have any money to pay our champion team. But now it is different. It is not that everything that has happened in the last 30-40 years in the BCCI has been all wrong. So while taking any steps, that should also be taken into account,” Thakur said.

“You need to understand that the Lodha panel recommendation is not a one page report. It is a detailed report which will have a lot of consequences on the functioning of the board. If the committee has taken 12 months, we are taking just two months to deliberate and discuss. Many states are yet to give their viewpoints,” the BCCI secretary added.

Thakur also said the board was paying for not being pro-active in the match-fixing issue that erupted in Narayanswami Srinivasan's time as president. “We are paying the price for the mistakes made in the earlier era. Lack of decision-making during that regime also hurt the image.”

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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