The Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) has overturned the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s decision to appoint Milind Kanmadikar as manager of the Indian team for the short tour of the West Indies.
India is scheduled to play five ODIs and a Twenty20 international at Trinidad, Antigua and Jamaica from June 23 to July 8. The CoA made it clear to the BCCI officer bearer, Amitabh Choudhary that Kapil Malhotra (Manger of the team for the ICC Champions Trophy) should remain as manager of the team in the West Indies.
At the CoA-BCCI meeting on Monday, CoA Chairman Vinod Rai, Vikram Limaye and Diana Edulji told the BCCI’s acting secretary Choudhary and CEO Rahul Johri in no uncertain terms that the team manager has to be a professional and that the practise of sending representatives of the BCCI units must be put to an end to. There were attempts to convince the CoA about Kanmadikar’s credentials, but the CoA was not receptive at all.
Kanmadikar, the Honorary Secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) and son of former BCCI Secretary, Anant Kanmadikar was in Mumbai on Monday to complete his travel formalities to the West Indies. "I was in Mumbai and was not told anything by the BCCI,’’ said Milind.
It is understood that the BCCI will soon advertise for the post of the professional manager of the team; a person who knows the game and is competent to to deal with other aspects of the team with a great deal of acumen.
The CoA’s decision is certain to cause indignation among the 31 members of the BCCI which has always used the appointment of manager’s post as a vote-catching exercise. In fact, many full members had expressed unhappiness and even objected to the appointment of Malhotra (EC member of the Cricket Club of India) for the ICC Champions Trophy.
In recent times, the BCCI also nominated observers for tours to keep some disgruntled member representatives happy.
Touching upon the manager’s role, a senior official said: "f there was so much bad-blood between skipper Virat Kohli and Head Coach Anil Kumble, what was the manager of the team for the home international season, Anil Patel, doing? Was it not his duty to inform the Board? Has he mentioned the alleged rift in any of his reports?"
Officials following the CoA activity revealed that the process to advertise for the post of team manager and coach of the India under-19 and A teams has already begun and that the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) may be involved in the selection of the coach for the junior teams.
The COA has also given extra-time for the BCCI members to respond to the Deloitte report on majority of the associations.
The CoA has also sent copies of the Constitution written by the Justice Lodha Committee to all members of the BCCI, but without the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). The BCCI’s full members have been asked to implement the Supreme Court order of July 18, 2016 and revert to the CoA which has scheduled a meeting with them at the Cricket Centre here on June 25.
The BCCI full members have rejected outright some of the Lodha recommendations and are bound to stick to their guns. The CoA has also scheduled a meeting of its members here on June 24 and the BCCI has scheduled its Special General Meeting here on June 26.
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