BCCI keeps L. Sivaramakrishnan as a standby for Sunil Gavaskar

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has kept Laxman Shivaramakrishnan as a stand-by for Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar in the Panel of Commentators. Gavaskar did not pass in the ‘conflict test’ and will hence be replace by Shivaramakrishnan in the four member panel which has been created to serve during the home international matches. Sanjay Manjrekar, Harsha Bhogle and Murali Kartik are the other three individuals in the panel.

A decision was taken that no BCCI contracted commentator should be conflicted. The decision was taken in a meeting between the office-bearers and the Committee of Administrators (CoA) in Delhi yesterday. Sunil Gavaskar‘s name arose during the meeting because former CoA member Ramchandra Guha expressed his objection on Gavaskar’s different roles and duties.

Guha’s statement:

“Sunil Gavaskar is the head of a company, which represents Indian cricketers while commenting on those cricketers as part of the BCCI TV commentary panel. This is a clear conflict of interest. Either he must step down/withdraw himself from PMG completely or stop being a commentator for BCCI,” Ramachandra Guha stated while handing over his resignation.

Gavaskar now will have to sign an undertaking outlining his role in the Professional Management Group (PMG) which also manage players. Former women’s cricketer and current CoA member Diana Edulji spoke to the media on the issue after the meeting yesterday. She said “We have discussed the names but it has not been finalised.” “We need to look into the Conflict of Interest rules properly. We still don’t know who’s having what interest,” she added.

However, Harsha Bhogle has renewed his relationship with the BCCI once again. He had to part ways with the Indian cricket board after a few senior players complained against him. But Bhogle is now back in the mix and has been commentating since the IPL,