Commentators likely to sign undertakings on Conflict of Interest as per Lodha reforms

The members of the BCCI’s panel of commentators are likely to sign the undertakings to announce that they do not have any ‘conflict of interest’ as per the recent recommendations made by the Lodha panel. The board has reportedly already zeroed down four popular commentators for the same. This list includes the names of Sunil Gavaskar, Murali Kartik, Sanjay Manjrekar, and Harsha Bhogle.

As per the reports in Livemint, the BCCI did not officially announce these names but the hints were subtle enough for the media persons to decipher. One of the members of the CoA, Diana Edulji, noted that the board is keen on looking at all the aspects of the conflict of interest clause.

“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,” quoted Diana Edulji.

One of the BCCI officials recalled how Ramchandra Guha had alleged that Sunil Gavaskar must quit one of his commitments to continue to function in alignment with the conflict of interest rules. The board does not wish to take any chances in this regard from here on.

“The BCCI does not want to take any chances. The Lodha panel reforms states clearly that one needs to ensure that anyone associated with the BCCI does not have any conflict of interest. We must remember that former COA member Ramchandra Guha, in his resignation letter, had referred to Gavaskar’s involvement with Professional Management Group,” a BCCI official quoted.

Guha’s remarks on Gavaskar

Ramachandra Guha, the former CoA member, had targeted quite a few names in his resignation letter. One among them was of popular commentator Sunil Gavaskar. He had cited that Gavaskar heads a company and is a commentator too. He should quit one of the two jobs to ensure smooth functioning.

“Sunil Gavaskar is 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,” Guha had quoted.

Gavaskar, in his reply, had remarked that it was baseless to doubt his commitment and integrity towards the Indian cricket.

“It’s very disappointed that they are doubting my integrity and contribution to Indian cricket. Is there something particular against me that Ram Guha has named me in public?,” Sunil Gavaskar had replied.