BCCI intervenes after India women cricketers are left without money in West Indies

The Indian women’s cricket team is in the West Indies to play twin limited-over series. However, the Women in Blue found themselves in a fix as they were without their daily allowances. But the cricketers’ ordeal was soon resolved as the new office-bearers of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) swung into action and got the money transferred to the players’ accounts on Wednesday.

India take on the West Indies in the first ODI at Sir Vivian Richard’s Stadium in Antigua on Friday. Mithali Raj is leading India while Stafanie Taylor is captaining the home team.

Saba Karim accused of not acting on time

It was reported that the approach of Saba Karim, GM, Cricket Operations, and in-charge of women’s cricket saw the players ending up without their daily allowance. India Today reported a BCCI functionary as saying that the financial process had started under the Committee of Administrators (CoA) around September 18 and Karim, a former India wicketkeeper, was sent a mail for approval around September 23 but yet no development took place on the matter for over a month.

“For all the talks of process and smooth sailing under the CoA, we have a scenario where the girls were in a foreign land without cash. Who is responsible? If the whole process was started by the finance people as early as September 18, why did the completion of documentation take till October 24? Had it not been for the promptness shown by the new office bearers, we would have seen the girls struggling without allowance,” the functionary was quoted as saying.

Another functionary also asked why there was no progress despite Karim being sent repeated mails seeking approval. The official said Karim sent the first mail on September 23 and then a reminder was sent on September 25. A second reminder was sent on October 24 when he finally sent a mail to the CFO for approval. He asked whether it was the professional set-up that the CoA spoke of time and again.

This isn’t the first time either that Karim has been found napping when it is about handling women’s cricket. However, this time, seeing the women being stranded abroad without any money was something that upset many.

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