Justice Mukul Mudgal recently lauded former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), President N Srinivasan, for his contributions to the county’s cricket. He stated that the intelligent administrator played a huge role in raising India’s profile on the international stage.
N Srinivasan was the 1st Chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2014/2015. He was succeeded by another Indian, Shashank Manohar who was the chairman till March 2017. In 2017 a resolution was passed to reinstate him as the chairman until a successor was elected.
Justice Mukul Mudgal Says Contribution Of N. Srinivasan Cannot Be Forgotten
In an exclusive interview with Indranil Basu on Sportskeeda Cricket’s Facebook page, the former Chief Justice of the Punjab High Court claimed that N Srinivasan is largely responsible for the board’s global presence.
“You cannot forget what Mr. Srinivasan did for Indian cricket. Tamil Nadu has a beautifully organised system of various leagues, and players started getting money. The way he put India’s stock up in the ICC, he was a corporate magnet and knew how to deal with all those people entrenched in the ICC,” Justice Mukul Mudgal said.
“That’s how we acquired our power and that’s why everyone wants us to tour, because the money comes from us. He has made an enormous contribution to Indian cricket and it cannot be forgotten.”
On 2014, a report submitted by the retired High Court Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal-led committee, indicted Mr. Srinivasan’s son-in-law, Gurunath Meiyappan of illegal betting and passing on sensitive match-related information to bookies during IPL 2013.
The report also stated that N Srinivasan’s company, India Cements was liable for his son in law’s actions and that the Chennai Super Kings franchise violated the agreement, which eventually resulted in the termination of the IPL franchise for two years in 2016 and 2017 along with Rajasthan Royals.
Justice Mukul Mudgal Says N Srinivasan Raised India’s Prestige Internationally
Justice Mukul Mudgal mentioned that the BCCI is the best administrative sports body in the country and that N Srinivasan greatly increased India’s hold at the international level.
“Forget what happened in that particular incident, but among all the administrators that have governed India cricket – and the BCCI is still the best-run sports body in the country, others are nowhere near it, really Mr. Srinivasan did a huge amount and raised the prestige of India in international cricket,” Justice Mukul Mudgal added.
In the candid interview, Justice Mudgal, who headed the Mudgal Committee that was in charge of investigating the Indian Premier League’s spot-fixing and betting scandals of the previous decade, also claimed that sports betting must be legalized in the country. The former Delhi Court Judge candidly stated that legalizing of betting would bring in great revenue in money to the government besides benefiting the public and the sports involved.