Cricket Advisory Committee likely to be expanded

Sportstar understands that BCCI president Anurag Thakur sounded off representatives of most of the BCCI affiliates about his plan to restructure the CAC, consisting of legendary cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman, to restructure the CAC, during the last week’s cricket conclave in Dharamsala.

If the plan materialises into action, then the High Performance Committee could well have five to six members, including one of the coaches at the National Cricket Academy and one of the high-profile cricket operations executives of the BCCI.

The high-profile Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), which was engaged in the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI’s) coach selection process, may soon be expanded, both in terms of personnel and scope, into a High Performance Committee (HPC). The BCCI hierarchy is likely to push for such a proposal during the annual general meeting in September.

Sportstar understands that BCCI president Anurag Thakur sounded off representatives of most of the BCCI affiliates about his plan to restructure the CAC, consisting of legendary cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman, to restructure the CAC, during the last week’s cricket conclave in Dharamsala.

“There have been preliminary discussions about increasing the scope of the Cricket Advisory Committee,” a State association official who was part of the discussions, preferring anonymity, told Sportstar. “One of the proposals is to merge the Technical Committee and the CAC into a High Performance Committee. Whether the new committee will be additionally handed over the responsibility of liaising with the India and India A teams is still not clear.”

If the plan materialises into action, then the HPC could well have five to six members, including one of the coaches at the National Cricket Academy and one of the high-profile cricket operations executives of the BCCI. It is likely that a recently-retired stalwart of Indian cricket could be approached to be included in the committee.

The Technical Committee, currently headed by Ganguly, regulates the domestic tournaments of the BCCI. If it is to be merged, then the HPC will have to meet frequently instead of being what has predominantly been a cosmetic committee. Ever since it was formed in June 2015, the CAC had met only once. In fact, during Shashank Manohar’s seven-month tenure before he resigned in May, it wasn’t even clear whether the CAC was in existence or it was scrapped.

The CAC resurfaced when it was engaged for selecting India’s coach. While most BCCI members have welcomed the move to expand the scope of the committee, some are apprehensive about it.

A veteran administrator confided that the scope of CAC needs to be well-defined. “What is the role of involving such greats of the game if you don’t utilise them properly?” said the official. “The intent of expanding looks good but the purpose can be served only if you give the great cricketers clear brief and then implement the measures that are suggested by them.”