Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev raised concerns over some of the recommendations made by the Lodha Panel. The duo, who were present at Kanpur’s Green Park stadium for the first Test between India and New Zealand as part of the commentary team, believe that some of the recommendations do not make sense.
Kapil Dev agreed with the age cap of 60 years for administrators, the 1883 World Cup winning captain didn’t agree with the ‘One state one vote rule’.
“I could not understand that Maharashtra can have only one vote. How can a place like Mumbai, which has done so much for cricket, vote only after three years?” Dev said on Sunday (September 25).
“Yes, change is required, but I think the cricketing work should be done by cricketers and administrative work should be done by administrators.
At the time being, the state of Maharashtra has three associations, represented by teams Mumbai, Maharashtra, and Vidarbha, while Gujarat has as many associations, represented by Saurashtra, Gujarat, and Baroda. As per the recommendations of the Lodha Committee, three votes from each state will be reduced to one, with one association representing the state on a rotational basis.
“They should sit down and discuss what is best for cricket. Some of the recommendations, I feel, are too much, but some of them I feel is the need of the hour for the betterment of the game. I was so happy when three cricketers picked the national coach. But, let us not take anything away from the BCCI. They have looked after this game for almost 60-80 years,” he added.
Gavaskar, meanwhile, had reservations with the nine-year tenure for administrators in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the state associations. As per the Lodha recommendations, an administrator can hold office only thrice for a three-year period, with a cooling off period of three years in between two terms.
“What is the pinnacle of an administrator’s career? It is becoming the president. You don’t just become the president in three years,” the former opener said. “You are the president of the board because you serve some terms such as vice-president. Once you come to that level, once you have finished that term, you then don’t come back as the representative of your state association because how are the new ideas going to come?
“Once you have done that I think you should say, ‘Thank you very much. Let us now have somebody else representing my state association.’ That is the kind of thing that will help,” Gavaskar concluded.
The BCCI has time until September 30 to amend its rules and regulations, with the first phase of reforms to be implemented by October 15.