N. Srinivasan’s exclusion from the circles of the BCCI has led to the meteoric rise of Anurag Thakur. Thakur, the current BCCI Secretary has been in the good books of the biggest stakeholders of Indian cricket – the fans. Thakur continues to maintain that his priority is the efficient and honest functioning of the BCCI.
In a recent interview with the Times of India (TOI), Thakur reiterated his views over the functioning of the BCCI and spoke about the upcoming India – South Africa series. Excerpts:
There is a perception that the Board’s functioning is paralyzed due to lack of clarity on N Srinivasan’s conflict-of-interest issue. The AGM too has been delayed. Don’t you think it’s a sad situation?
The job of the BCCI is to run and administer cricket. The issues that you have mentioned above have very little bearing on the day-to-day functioning of the game. Domestic schedules and preparations started well in advance for this season. Our national cricket side is doing well and recently managed win a Test series in Sri Lanka after 22 years. Most of the committees of the BCCI have met before the start of the season. We have taken steps to revive NCA and make it a centre of excellence. We have announced to launch a coaching app. We also took a very major step of dealing with conflict of interest issue. As far as working committee meeting is concerned it was better to adjourn the meeting then potentially facing contempt of court and spending crores of rupees on litigation later. The decision we took was in the interest of cricket and BCCI.
Will you support Srinivasan as the ICC president?
I have nothing personal against any individual. My priority is cricket and the BCCI. And whatever decision is taken, it will be a collective one.
Board officials are now talking about BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya’s illness and how it’s affecting the board. Is there any move to replace him?
He is a seasoned administrator. We’ve benefited from his experience. All the steps taken by us have been done under his guidance.
What are your plans to celebrate India’s home series against South Africa?
We have some big plans for the upcoming series. Both the countries share common struggle, common history. We are planning a big launch of the series on 21st September in Bangalore. We will make some major announcements there.India-South Africa cricket is one of the most fascinating cricket contests in the world and we want this to get the stature of a marquee series.
Despite forming a working group specifically for the purpose, the IPL crisis is nowhere near to being solved…
We’re clear about how we need to deal with this issue.We’ll share the details with everyone at the right time. Again we won’t like to take any decision that has long time legal ramifications.
India will host the World T20 for the first time. How are the preparations going?
Preparations are in full swing. Venues have been discussed and announced. All the ground work related to the event has started. Very soon we will release the schedule of the event. We want this event to be one of the best world cricket event hosted by India.
Women’s cricket has been ignored by the BCCI over the years. Has the BCCI taken any steps to correct this?
That was one of the areas I wanted to address immediately after taking charge. And I am glad that the long-pending issues of the women cricketers have been finally addressed. In the coming season, we are going to offer contracts to top women’s cricketers like men’s cricket. We have also increased their international series fees by 200 per cent. We are trying to give them more matches and exposure at the international level.
What is the role of the advisory committee?
The role of the advisory committee is absolutely clear and most of the decisions related to cricketing matters are taken in due consultation with them. India A tours, appointment of Dravid, Shastri and other members of support staff, revamp of NCA, creating a pool of bowlers and guiding them and the coaching app are some of the issues which were discussed with these legends. We don’t have to meet physically every time to discuss things. So far we had three conference calls to discuss everything.