What is an embattled cricket board president to do? The Supreme Court appears to be tightening the conflict-of-interest noose around BCCI President N Srinivasan’s neck with each passing hearing.
In Tuesday’s proceedings, the Court observed that Srinivasan should make a choice between owning Chennai Super Kings and being BCCI president. Choosing to stand for re-election would endanger CSK, the court said, though it once again stopped short of passing an order in the case.
The trend of the Court’s observations suggests they want the BCCI and Srinivasan to jump before they are pushed. But the response from Srinivasan’s lawyers was typically combative: There is no legal basis to indict Srinivasan and so he cannot be prevented from running for BCCI president. Not surprising. After all, Srinivasan did not get this far by taking no for an answer.
Will N Srinivasan be forced to give up CSK? BCCI
However, should the court decide that a healthy shove is the need of the hour to get the BCCI to clean up its act, then Srinivasan will have to choose between two things dear to him: the BCCI or the CSK.
What will he choose? Firstpost believes if he has to make a choice, he might well choose to be BCCI president for another three years, even though losing CSK will undoubtedly sting.
The case to hold on to the BCCI presidency can be summed up in one word: Power. If you retain power, the rest follows. It not only means Srinivasan runs cricket in India but also cricket across the world by virtue of his being ICC chairman. If he was no longer a BCCI official, it is anybody’s guess whether the person who succeeds him will continue to endorse Srinivasan as the board’s representative on the ICC.
Giving up the presidency would mean Srinivasan becomes just an IPL owner and we all know how the board treats them. As Srinivasan once said in the presence of a common acquaintance, the BCCI does not discuss, the BCCI dictates.
Then there is the question of his having enemies in and out of the BCCI. It is no secret that Lalit Modi despises him but the likes of Sharad Pawar and Shashank Manohar could well make life difficult for him if he relinquishes the throne.
Clinging to the BCCI, however, would mean losing CSK, the IPL's most successful and popular franchise. It would cost Srinivasan his foothold in the IPL and the Champions League T20, and it would conceivably diminish his stature after he has straddled both sides like a colossus.
It would also cut one of the key cords that bind Srinivasan and India captain MS Dhoni together. Rhiti Sports, which manages Dhoni, counts CSK as one of its clients. Dhoni is a vice-president of India Cements. If the team is sold to another company, all these relationships might have to be re-evaluated.
It would also mean India Cements shares would tumble further than they already have over the course of this case, potentially upsetting the shareholders of the company. If the franchise is making money, that might give the businessman in Srinivasan cause to pause.
However, there is also an aura of uncertainty hovering over CSK. The franchise could still be punished for the sins of Gurunath Meiyappan (though we argue against that). It is conceivable that Srinivasan could choose CSK and end up losing the franchise anyway if it is terminated as a result of the Mudgal Committee report.
It is not certain yet that Srinivasan will have to make this choice, though it is getting harder and harder to see how he will escape it. What is certain though is that Indian cricket should never have been put in this position in the first place. Hopefully, the Supreme Court’s treatment of this case heralds a new standard for the way the BCCI runs cricket in India.
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