CSK’s future to be discussed in crucial BCCI meet
The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) working committee meeting in Kolkata is shaping up to be a high-profile event with president Jagmohan Dalmiya having called upon a number of eminent and battle-hardened bigwigs for the party.(Full Coverage| Fixtures|Points Table)
The fate of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchise is unanimously said to be on top of the agenda, with former chiefs Sharad Pawar and Shashank Manohar also expected to attend the meeting.
For Pawar, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) president, this will be his first foray into the BCCI’s corridor of power since he was busy heading it a few years ago.
“Our president Sharad Pawar will be attending the working committee. We have even informed the board about this,” informed MCA joint-secretary PV Shetty. In addition to Pawar and Manohar, who have both been at loggerheads with Srinisvasan in the recent past, Dalmiya has also made it a point to include his old ally, Niranjan Shah, into the mix.
“I and Manohar have been invited by the president and we will be attending the board’s working committee meet,” Shah confirmed.
The new regime, under Dalmiya and secretary Anurag Thakur, has also invited the Vidarbha Cricket Association and the Gujarat Cricket Association. While the two associations were most affected during the Srinivasan reign, the Karnataka Cricket Association surprisingly been left out.
All about Chennai
It is learnt that the major talks during the working committee meeting is likely to revolve around who gave permission to India Cements, the original owners of CSK, to transfer their IPL team to a newly-owned subsidiary, Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd.
It is also learnt that the issue regarding the CSK transfer had come up for approval during the IPL governing council meeting in Delhi a few days ago.
“The IPL Governing Council has no authorization to take a final call. All decisions need to be taken by the working committee. In case of the CSK transfer issue, many members want to know who took the decision and why? The working committee never took place after the IPL GC was held on February 10. Then how can CSK get BCCI’s approval to transfer itself from India Cements to Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd?” a BCCI member told The Indian Express.
Those in the know admit that Srinivasan never imagined losing control of board matters completely, or to this extent anyway, post the AGM, and that it was a clear-cut message to him from Dalmiya & Co that they were out to grill him further.
