Just not cricket

Indian cricket is doing exceptionally well on the field today, but the same cannot be said of the way the game is being run. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), under scrutiny since the IPL spot-fixing scam broke in 2013, has made tardy progress in putting in place more transparent and accountable systems, resisting the Lodha Committee’s recommendations meant to overhaul its working. This has led to an extraordinary stand-off between the Supreme Court (which set up the committee) and the BCCI, with the former on Friday choking off funds from the BCCI to its member cricket associations who have yet to “fall in line”. The apex court also said that contracts above a certain sum will require the Lodha panel’s approval and that an independent auditor will scrutinise the BCCI’s accounts and fix this ceiling. Friday’s ruling comes at a time when media rights for the multi-crore moneyspinner, IPL, are to be awarded for the decade beginning 2018. Little is known about how the BCCI manages its annual revenue of ₹2,000 crore, about half of which is earned by way of broadcast fees of ₹43 crore per match, with the rest accruing from the International Cricket Council’s kitty, gate fees and sundry sponsorships. The court’s basic contention behind appointing the Lodha Committee in January 2015 to revamp the administration cannot be faulted: that the BCCI may be registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, but given the enormous following of the game and the public money it manages, it cannot be run like any other club or trust.

The BCCI’s opposition to the Lodha panel is not hard to understand. For all posts in the BCCI and its member cricket bodies, the panel calls for one-man-one post, one State-one vote, an age cap of 70 years, fixed tenure terms (with cooling off periods), and of ministers being excluded from official positions. The first stands roundly violated even today, despite conflict of interest issues coming to the fore in the case of former BCCI president N Srinivasan. The Lodha panel calls for a lean apex working committee of elected members.

Yet, there might be some merit in the criticism that the Lodha panel is going too far. The insistence that ministers should stay out seems anti-political per se, as politicians can get systems moving when it really matters. Finally, cricket remains the best-managed sport in the country. There is a meritocracy at work, with players from small towns, starting with MS Dhoni, rising to prominence. Hence, it’s time the BCCI and the Lodha panel arrived at a middle ground.

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