The Indian cricket board exerted pressure to get India leg-spinner-turned-television commentator Laxman Sivaramakrishnan into the International Cricket Council's Cricket Committee headed by Anil Kumble, South African journalist, Neil Manthrop reported recently,
Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara is the other representative on the prestigious committee.
Speaking from Bulawayo, where he is covering the Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh series, Manthrop said, “the voting for the players’ representative on ICC cricket committee is done by the 10 Test captains. At first instance, it went in favour of Tim May, (president of the Federation of International Cricketers Associations and former Australia spinner).”
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“Tony Irish (South African Cricketers’ Association chief) may be able to tell you why the voting was re-done,” said Manthrop. In all likelihood, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni voted for Sivaramakrishnan.
Smith’s vote for May
Meanwhile, Irish said from Cape Town: “Our captain Graeme Smith voted in favour of May. But now, the BCCI does not want May on the committee so the vote was re-done. Pressure has now been put on captains from certain countries to change their votes on Tim May and now the vote is deadlocked at 5-5.”
It is learnt that captains of all other Asian Test-playing nations - Angelo Matthews (Sri Lanka), Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan) and Mushfiqur Rahim (Bangladesh) subsequently voted for Sivaramakrishnan.
“It is a sad day for governance of cricket when players are not allowed to vote freely for their true representatives,” Irish concluded.
It may also be recalled here that the Indian cricket board reportedly opposed the appointment of former ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat as CEO of Cricket South Africa (CSA).
A source said: “It should not come as a surprise as this is the way BCCI operates. The irony of this that makes us laugh is that BCCI continually state that they don’t recognise player representatives. Yet, they are rolling out their own player representative!”
Sivaramakrishnan, meanwhile, said from Chennai: “I am born to serve the game. I have been a cricketer, coach, commentator and now willing to serve on ICC’s cricket committee.”
The writer is a freelanceru00a0
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