Hogwired All about sports Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) finds itself with its back to the wall after being asked by the apex court on Friday not to provide any more funds to the state associations until they accept the Lodha Committee reforms in “letter and spirit” its recent hearing on October 6th. The fight between the BBCI and The Lodha Committee seems have taken an even more bitter turn. It’s still not clear if BBCI will fall in line and will follow this interim order of the Supreme Court. In an effort to garner more support and also show that they are a united lot, BCCI has decided to convene a meeting of all its state associations before the all-important hearing in the Supreme Court on October 17th.
A top BCCI official in an interview to India Today explained BCCI’s position and said that the board is left with no other option. According to this official, the onus is now on the state associations to decide their future course of action. He said that it will depend on the state associations “how, and whether at all” they will be able to host cricket matches without any funding from BBCI after this recent order from the apex court.
Indian cricket has of late drawn huge media attention for the recent developments pertaining to its battle with the Lodha Committee. Hence along with the on-field action in the ongoing third test against the Kiwis Indian cricketing fans will also have to witness some off-field action in the coming days leading up to the very important hearing in the Supreme Court on October 17th.
The first ODI against the Black Caps will be hosted in Dharamshala by the Himachal Cricket Association (HPCA) on October 16th. Interestingly this state association is headed by the current president of BCCI Anurag Thakur.
The BCCI official highlighted the fact that the ODIs series with the Kiwis will start a day before the all-important hearing in the Supreme Court on 17th October. According to him the meeting of the state associations will have to be held before the apex court hearing. He further added that he doesn’t want to speculate what will be the outcome if the state associations express their inability to host the ODI series against the Kiwis. BCCI has said that in this upcoming meeting it will discuss the future of IPL and also the current ODI series with New Zealand with the state associations.
Meanwhile BCCI President in a letter to all the state associations said that in view of recent comments surfacing against IPL all of them need to take a collective decision on whether to stop this event or not . He added, “I leave it to the collective wisdom of the members.”
