Indian cricket is never short of ironies. Here's another example: The Governing Council, a committee which drives the controversial, yet much-praised Indian Premier League that has made pockets of cricketers the world over heavier than ever before, is not a professional one. <table style="width: 124px; height: 42px" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="124" align="right" border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td><img alt="" src="/imagedata/2010/sep/Suniel.jpg" border="0" /></td></tr> <tr> <td> Sunil Gavaskar</td></tr></tbody></table>It was decided at the Board of Control for Cricket in India's Annual General Meeting yesterday that the former Test captains on the committee will no more avail of the Rs one crore-per-year remuneration. Pruned The committee has been pruned down and the number of Test captains reduced to two as compared to the earlier three. Ravi Shastri stays on the panel after agreeing to serve for free. BCCI president Shashank Manohar said one more reputed cricketer will be added after the BCCI gets his consent to work on an honorary basis. That man could well be Sunil Gavaskar, who served on the previous Governing Council. But Gavaskar has yet to be contacted. Does this mean he has been dropped? Probably. "I will react only when I get a reason for not being on the panel," Gavaskar told MiD DAY last night. Where MAK Pataudi (the third captain on the previous panel) is concerned, he did not receive any call from the BCCI till late evening. Certain sections of the media have reported that Gavaskar wanted to quit as a Governing Council member. "Never did the idea of quitting cross my mind," the batting legend stressed. Raise There is talk about him wanting a raise (from Rs one crore to five) for being a committee member, but Gavaskar is not ready to react at this point of time. He will come out in the open regarding this so-called raise at a more appropriate time. If Gavaskar is asked to serve the Governing Council for free, he will do so just like he did when he was appointed to head various BCCI committees and when he was requested to be consultant to the Indian team in the home series against Australia in 2004-05. Meanwhile, he still heads the BCCI technical committee. Why did the Board decide to stop paying the captains? It is learnt that C P Joshi, the Rajasthan Cricket Association chief raised the point that if other members of the Governing Council work in a honorary capacity, why should the cricketers be paid. Joshi found support from other members and hence it was decided that no one gets any remuneration. So poor If Shastri was contacted for his consent to serve on the panel ufffd and he agreed to do it for free ufffd what stopped the Board from calling Gavaskar to ask him the same question? The richest Board in the world is still so very poor when it comes to tackling issues head-on and in a fair manner.

The Governing Council, a committee which drives the controversial, yet much-praised Indian Premier League that has made pockets of cricketers the world over heavier than ever before, is not a professional one

Why couldn't BCCI call Gavaskar over IPL GC position?

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Why couldn't BCCI call Gavaskar over IPL GC position?

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