The writer speaks about Deepak Parekh and him joining Sunil Gavaskar in the Governing Council
Interim BCCI president, Sunil Gavaskar (Photo : DC )
Sunil Gavaskar’s request to Deepak Parekh, chairman of HDFC, to join the Governing Council of IPL7 may have caught a lot of people unawares, but doesn’t really surprise me: this was sorely needed. Readers will remember that two weeks ago, after Gavaskar had been made interim BCCI chief by the Supreme Court looking into the corruption case in IPL, this column had argued that while he had very little time to achieve anything spectacular, he would do well to establish a fresh template for the Governing Council.
The Council is at the core of every major decision that takes place in the IPL: from the technical aspect to those of finance, security et al. While there are countless numbers of people involved in the running of the tournament, the buck finally stops with members in this august body. Gavaskar, who was a member of the Governing Council from its inception in 2008 till 2010 (he quit because the post was made honorary) has surely been closely tracking what’s been happening and what the problem is. Being a pragmatist, he has realized that a crucial value add could go a long way in improving the perception of the IPL.
It has been my constant contention that the recurring and several misgivings about the integrity of the IPL stem from a fundamental flaw in the composition of the Governing Council. For a project this size in terms of finance and logistics it simply couldn’t be run by a cosy club of cricket administrators and cricketers, however good their intentions. While a small, homogenous group could facilitate a quick start to the tournament, it simply couldn’t infuse trust in fans and critics over a period of time.
As in any other big sized business, drawing in people of high reputation into the board of directors (or GC in this case), not only increases transparency, but also adds heft to the expertise. This is hardly unusual in sport: in fact it is the practice followed by every major sports league in the world and it beats understanding why the BCCI, with so many from the corporate and legal sectors, could not have foreseen the problems ahead.
With some controversy or the other erupting every year, it not only deepened the crisis in the IPL, but also considerably weakened faith in the people in charge. This is turn gave rise to several misgivings about the integrity of the tournament and indeed Indian cricket. The corruption scam that broke last year has particularly eroded the credibility of most administrators and virtually brought the IPL to its knees. Nobody, not the most ardent fan, wants to be cheated.
But what the scam exposed was not just a grisly underbelly to the IPL and laxity in enforcing anti corruption measures, but more crucially, a Governing Council that was totally ill equipped to act. Which brings us to Mr Deepak Parekh’s appointment to the Governing Council: how much can he benefit the IPL and Indian cricket? From what we know of Mr Parekh, he is not only a renowned technocrat, but also a sports buff, especially cricket.
His passion for the game, apart from the challenge of the assignment, will have made him agree. I reckon his unimpeachable reputation will go some way in restoring a semblance of trust in people, even if he is only in an advisory capacity. But I would like something more substantive from Messrs Paresh and Gavaskar. How about a White Paper post the completion of IPL7 on what ails the IPL and how it can be improved? This could serve as the document that should have been drafted originally, but better late than never
( Source : dc )
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