Hyderabad: Adding a bundle of contradictions to the conflict-of-interest ridden IPL comes Sunil Gavaskar as Interim President of BCCI in charge of the controversial league.
The first issue is about his residential status as he has been an NRI for years for tax purposes, using Dubai as his base.
The question is if he is retaining his NRI status, is he eligible to head the India’s Premier League. He is a doting grandfather now who has mellowed down but is he capable of walking the tightrope in IPL-7 about which he has been tasked with cleaning up the league.
Curiously, the league goes to the UAE this year and the Emirates are well-known as the gambling den of all gambling dens, operated directly by Dawood Ibrahim’s chosen men.
Gavaskar has also had issues with the league since he once resigned from its governing council because he was not being paid a fee. But now that he is a paid commentator on BCCI roles (Rs 3.6 crore a year), he brings in a further contradiction despite being specifically asked by the top court to stay out of the commentary box in IPL-7.
Far from being resolved, the conflict of interest is further complicated by Gavaskar heading the league even if he is known to be a shrewd operator with a capacity to wear many hats.
His fellow players, particularly from Mumbai, are convinced he will do the job in the interest of the game but a stalwart like Bishen Bedi has questioned his choice by the top court on the grounds that he cannot take independent decisions since he has a contract to keep with BCCI as commentator.
He has the breadth of knowledge to find answers to tricky questions while being shrewd enough to put away personal conflicts of interest until the job is done in the months of April and May.
At his age, Sunny is far from the rebel of his playing days when he was constantly at odds with the board over player-administration issues. But he cannot erase the history of the issues he has had with BCCI and ICC, particularly in ICC where he was heading the powerful Cricket Committee until he was forced to opt out when he had to choose between roles in the media and the prestige post.
Facing up to challenges like playing Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson at their fiery best was right up his alley in his younger days as a world class opening batsman. Age may have grizzled his hair even after tending to it surgically in the course of his career as a commentator. But it has not withered him nor dulled his mental acuity a whit.
As chirpy now as in his playing days, Gavaskar has not let his 65 years sit heavily on him. He has combined his business interests and his passion for commentary, he loves to be seen as the voice of the fans with the need for family time, doing it all as nimbly as a goat on a mountain trail.
Balancing his life with sport and then business even as he took on the role of sports ambassador has been as easy as footwork in the batting crease.
With the game consuming time in many continents, he has led a hectic life of constant international travel, but with a zest for life, food, mainly meat except on days set apart for remembering his guru Satya Sai Baba.
Right from his playing days, the occasional tipple was a time-pass rather than a habit, a cigar or a cigarette very occasionally grabbed away from prying eyes of cameramen a mischievous dare rather than a consuming habit. To combine a healthy life with a pick of the best of everything was a balance he achieved in such a facile manner that made him the envy of his circle of friends.
If he flopped at all in any one thing, it was as an actor in front of the movie camera. But then he wore so many hats with aplomb, cricketer, captain, commentator, columnist, author, head of ICC cricket committee, Sheriff of Mumbai, actor, singer, Col CK Nayudu awardee, husband, father, grandfather, interim BCCI president.
