Cricket chaos as judges tell India boss to quit

25 March 2014

The future of world cricket was plunged into doubt today after the Indian Supreme Court urged one of the sport’s most powerful men to cede control of the game in his country.

While the investigation proceeds into corruption in the Indian Premier League, Narayanaswami Srinivasan, chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and a key ally of the England and Wales Cricket Board, has been asked by a two-judge panel to stand down.

The possible implications of the panel’s recommendation are unsettling for the world game, and English cricket. In July, Srinivasan was due to take over as chairman of the International Cricket Council, who run the world game.

“Unless the BCCI president stands down, there can be no fair investigation. It’s nauseating,” Justice AK Patnaik is reported to have told the court in New Delhi.

“If you [Srinivasan] don’t step down, then we will pass an order. There needs to be serious cleaning.”

Earlier this year, Srinivasan, English cricket chief Giles Clarke and Wally Edwards, chairman of Cricket Australia, supported reforms to the structure of the International Cricket Council which effectively placed the three countries in charge of the world game. The financial reorganisation will see India, cricket’s biggest fund generator, as well as England and Australia pocketing a greater share of the ICC revenue.

But Srinivasan’s position is now uncertain. The panel warned it could order him to stand down unless he did so voluntarily, as his continued presence was hampering the investigation which involves his son-in-law, Gurunath Meiyappan.

A report, released in February, concluded that Meiyappan could be guilty of illegal betting on IPL games. Meiyappan was the team principal of Chennai Super Kings, an IPL franchise owned by Srinivasan’s India Cements company and captained by national skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The report, by a panel headed by retired judge Mukul Mudgal, suggested Meiyappan may have passed on team information to outsiders for illegal betting but did not specify what information or to whom.

“There are no definite findings by the Mudgal committee but the allegations are of a very serious nature,” Justice Patnaik told the court. “Whether the BCCI will act on the findings of the probe panel is a big, big question.”