Rahul Dravid had an option to pick between IPL and U19: Vinod Rai

The war of power in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is intensifying as the Committee of Administrators (COA) and the board officials struggle to prove higher authority. After the COA took over the administration of the BCCI it implemented the Lodha Panel’s recommendations and Conflict of Interest became a huge issue. Office bearers and players couldn’t take up multiple roles and a lot of them had to give up on the secondary positions they held.

Now, the COA has taken a softer stance to ensure former cricketers and those who are a part of the support staff of the Indian senior and junior teams can still be associated with the Indian Premier League (IPL). After the conflict of interest rule got into force, Ravi Shastri who is the head coach of the national team could no longer appear in the commentary box during the IPL.

Rahul Dravid the coach of the India U19 and A teams had to quit as the head coach of the Delhi Daredevils franchise. Other members of the Indian support staff like Sanjay Bangar, Bharat Arun and R Sridhar also had to give up on IPL jobs. However, overseas cricketers who are coaches of the team or work as the team’s support staff still come to India for the IPL and have contracts with the franchises.

Vinod Rai, the head of the COA in a recent interview said that they are trying to work out the best possible way for this to work in favour of the players.

“We are looking at the fact that there has to be a conflict of interest policy. There’s no denying that but that policy cannot be a handicap of our players or our support staff. To that extent, you have a valid point and we are looking into that,” Rai told TOI.

It was Rahul Dravid’s decision

The administrator also said that Dravid was given an option by the COA if he would want to work in the IPL or be on a 12-month contract with the board, the former Indian captain asked for the latter and his contract had a compensation package for the same.

“But Rahul Dravid himself opted out of it. We gave Rahul two options. A) Would you want to be with the IPL; B) A 12-month contract with the BCCI. Rahul said I’ll give my time to the Under-19 team. He gave us a compensation package which was most reasonable for him,” says Rai.

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