Jacob Martin appointed as Baroda coach despite criminal record

With the Mudgal committee tracking the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) steps when it comes to the implementation of the committee’s report. However, the Baroda Cricket Association has taken it one step further and well away from the recommendations by appointing former player and ex-Indian batsman Jacob Martin to the post of head coach.

In spite of being supremely talented, Martin never found a way into an Indian team that boasted of talents such as Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, and Rahul Dravid. He was also unfortunately implicated in human trafficking, something that did not go down too well with the lawmakers of the country. This act saw Jacob Martin serving a substantial term in the Tihar Jail.

This also did not go down too well with a senior member of the Baroda squad. The member, who has not been revealed went on to claim that this was a highly unethical thing to do.

“How can someone who has spent time in Tihar Jail and whose case for which he was convicted, still pending be appointed as the Ranji Trophy coach? BCCI’s ‘no criminal record’ rule should also hold true for coaches and other office bearers,” someone around the Baroda team was quoted saying.

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“This is completely unethical,” said another official, adding, “He may have been a very good cricketer, but he hasn’t been a law-abiding citizen. BCA has set a bad example by appointing him as coach. There are so many senior cricketers in Baroda who could easily have occupied the post.”

The deputy commissioner of the airport in Delhi went on to confirm the crime. “Martin formed a bogus team — Ajwa Sports Club — and identified himself as a playing member,” the then Deputy Commissioner of Police at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, RA Sanjeev, was quoted as saying by PTI.

However, in spite of all this, Jacob Martin said, “I have full faith in the law and I am sure that I will come out clean. I just want to dedicate the rest of my life to the game and nothing else.”

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