CSK’s de-merger referred to cricket board’s legal panel

The BCCI won’t approve Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) de-merger until it receives its share as per the present market value. A war of words ensued between former cricket board president Shashank Manohar and Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) representative PS Raman — he reportedly defended the de-merger — over CSK’s valuation during the working committee meeting in Kolkata on Sunday.

The matter was eventually referred to BCCI’s legal panel. But a former cricket board office bearer, who attended the meeting from West Zone, categorically said the de-merger won’t be approved until BCCI gets its due.

“In the last week of February this year, India Cements had written a letter to BCCI, informing the transfer of its shares to a trust. Then secretary (Sanjay Patel) approved it without referring the matter to the general body. But nothing in the BCCI can be presented as a fait accompli,” he told The Indian Express.

‘Won’t approve’

“We don’t care at what value the (CSK) shares were transferred to a trust. But when a third party (BCCI) is involved, the transaction fee has to be based on the market value. And until we are getting five percent of the (present) market value, we won’t approve the de-merger.”

The official BCCI release said: “The committee decided to seek a fresh legal opinion on the de-merger and transfer of shares of CSK for further action.”

It was the first working committee meeting since a change of guard took place at the BCCI on March 2. Deliberations lasted for over three hours, for a lot of issues were on the table. Once again, Baroda Cricket Association had double representation, but unlike the AGM, association vice-president Rakesh Parikh was allowed to attend the meeting instead of its president Samarjit Sinh Gaekwad. The former reportedly produced a letter, showing he had the support of the majority of his state association.

Fletcher’s successor in May

As for cricket, president Jagmohan Dalmiya and secretary Anurag Thakur have been given the responsibility to pick Duncan Fletcher’s successor. The latter’s contract expired after the World Cup and according to a source, a decision to fill the vacancy is likely to be taken in the first week of May.

BCCI is also set to constitute a cricket advisory committee to look after the “overall conduct and development of the game”. Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid are likely to be there in the panel.

As for other cricketing issues, the host broadcaster will decide Champions League T20’s future based on its commercial/financial viability. Amrit Mathur has been appointed as the liaison officer for the World T20 that India would be hosting next year.

The working committee, also, approved Neeraj Kumar and Madhusudan Prasad’s appointment as consultants to its Anti-Corruption Unit. Dalmiya okayed it after going through the details.

Finally, BCCI recommended Rohit Sharma for the Arjuna Award this year. He broke the world record by scoring 264 in an ODI last year.