Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar said he was willing to take the helm of India’s embattled cricket board after a proposal by the Supreme Court designed to stem the damage from a betting scandal.
At a dramatic hearing in New Delhi, a panel of judges also called for the banning of two teams from this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL), in a potentially devastating blow to a tournament which begins next month.
After warning the incumbent Narayanaswami Srinivasan that they could order him to quit, the judges proposed 64-year-old Gavaskar take over on an interim basis as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
“In the place of Srinivasan, we propose to appoint an experienced cricket player like Sunil Gavaskar to replace him and function as BCCI president,” said Justice AK Patnaik, the panel’s chairman.
Gavaskar, the first player ever to score 10,000 runs in Test match cricket and who is now a television commentator, said he was up for the challenge of leading the most powerful body in world cricket.
“The fact that I am contracted to the BCCI to do TV commentary has to be put on record,” he told the NDTV network.
“After that if the honourable Supreme Court tells you to do something, then of course … if they ask me to do something, I will do it.
“If the highest court is reposing this faith in me, I’ll be very happy to do what they ask me to do.”
There was no immediate reaction from Srinivasan but his counsel had earlier told the court he was willing to “step aside”. But he first wanted to know how long an ongoing investigation would continue.
The panel is looking at a damning report it commissioned into wrongdoing in last year’s IPL tournament when former Test bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth was caught deliberately bowling badly while playing for the Rajasthan Royals in return for thousands of dollars from bookmakers.
Released in February, the report also concluded that Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan — who was the team principal of the Chennai Super Kings — could be guilty of illegal betting on IPL games.
The Super Kings are owned by India Cements, whose managing director is Srinivasan. The team are captained by India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
In the light of the allegations involving the two teams, the judges said they should not be allowed to take part in this year’s tournament.
“We are not removing anyone now, but Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals will not be allowed to participate in the IPL which commences on April 16,” added Patnaik.
