Ex- ICC President Mustafa Kamal, was today quoted as calling the ICC the “Indian Cricket Council”. N. Srinivasan, current Chairman of the ICC is officially barred by the Supreme Court of India from contesting BCCI elections. The global cricket community is aware of the power that Srinivasan currently holds in world cricket, as was displayed during the closing ceremony of the recently concluded ICC Cricket World Cup.
Despite it being clearly stated in ICC guidelines that the biggest prize in cricket, the ICC Cricket World Cup, be handed to the winning captain bu the ICC President, the then President, Mustafa Kamal was brushed aside of such privelege by ICC Chairman N. Srinivasan. Mustafa Kamal, had already made himself a public figure in India before this incident when he revolted against incorrect umpirring decisions during the India-Bangladesh Quarter Final. Kamal, a Bangladeshi National, had called it a conspiracy against Bangladesh that umpiring decisions were leaning India’s way during the match. The compilation of these incidents has led to Kamal resigning from the International Cricket Council, calling his further representation of the ICC as shameful.
In a country where Cricket has always been ruled by the politicians, it is unsurprising that Srinivasan might have used his political prowess to rise the ladders up the ICC. The point however, to be concerned about is that if the Indian Supreme Court terms N. Srinivasan as unfit to be involved in the national cricket body, then how can it be appropriate that global cricket fans allow N. Srinivasan to rule the sport that they love.
Cricket is in many ways, a religion across India. There is no doubt that over the years the BCCI has made tremendous strides in becoming the pioneer body of the sport. The crazy following of the game allows the BCCI to auction media rights at tremendously high rates, thus making it the Power House of cricket. Every Test Playing nation eagerly awaits a Bilateral Series with India so that their local bodies can grow at atleast fractional rates to the BCCI. Instead of using this money to transform cricket into a truly global sport though, the BCCI has managed to own the sport. The Indian Premier League, too, is effectively, the ‘International’ Premier League due to the massive global following. Betting allegations and more importantly, ‘conflict of interest’ allegations have put N. Srinivasan in a soup, here too.
As a childhood cricket aficionado, I am deeply hardhearted to see the game being ruled over as authoritatively and unwisely as it is. It is our duty as cricket fans, I feel, to be aware of the mess that the sport is going through and sweep it away. Mass awareness will hopefully lead to a global movement against corruption in cricket and allow us to play cricket as a Gentlemen’s Sport!
Cricket Reviews By Maanav 