Chennai: The Supreme Court might have suggested former India captain Sunil Gavaskar for the post of interim chief of the BCCI in place of its embattled president N. Srinivasan, but former BCCI president AC Muthiah is not so pleased with the choice. Muthiah feels Gavaskar, who is on the payroll of BCCI for his commentator duty, could trigger “another conflict of interest issue”.
“He is a great cricketer and his approach is scientific. But, I don’t know how administrative experience he has to run the Board,” said Muthiah.
Muthiah has thrown his weight behind another former BCCI president Shashank Manohar, who maintained a clean image through his tenure before handing over the mantle to Srinivasan. “I think Manohar is a capable administrator and an honest man. He should be given a chance to clean up cricket,” he added.
Harish Salve, one of the senior lawyers arguing the Justice Mudgal Committee report case, claimed that M.S. Dhoni is guilty of corrupt conduct because he gave false statements to the probe committee about Gurunath Meiyappan’s role with the Chennai Super Kings. Muthiah said the authorities should take severe action if he’s found guilty. Citing Hansie Cronje’s involvement in the fixing scandal that rocked the world cricket in 2000, Muthiah said he can only “hope Dhoni is not involved”.
“No doubt, Dhoni is an important player for the country. If it’s true (the allegations) then responsible action has to be taken. Cronje was like that in South Africa. He was responsible for scandals. I hope it’s (allegations on Dhoni) not true,” he said.
It was Muthiah who brought Srinivasan into Tamil Nadu Cricket Association’s fold by recommending his name for the president’s post in the mid-2000s, before their relationship strained. “Never thought he would become a monster,” said Muthiah mincing no words.
“I always felt he was a good administrator. He did a great job for cricket. But because of the conflict of interest, he lost track. Now he is gone beyond all that. I am happy and thrilled by SC’s proposal, because I have been battling this conflict of interest case in all courts. It’s a landmark judgment and truth has finally prevailed,” said Muthiah.
Muttiah said IPL needs to be cleansed. “May be they can suspend the league for a year and should think of restructuring the event. The players will lose out now. But they knew they were in trouble,” he said.
