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INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE OVERHAULED

Mumbai: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar was on Wednesday dropped from the Governing Council of the Indian Premier League as the BCCI met here for its 81st AGM, at which it was also decided to revoke the expulsion of its former chief Jagmohan Dalmiya.

The IPL governing council has been reconstituted and former India captain Sunil Gavaskar is not part of the new team, and as a consequence of an amendment to the constitution, the term of the  council has also been reduced from five years to one year.

The major overhaul of the IPL was on the cards for a long time and the Board also took the decision to withdraw their suit filed against Jagmohan Dalmiya in the Bombay High Court. Dalmiya had been expelled by the BCCI in 2006.

A new IPL Governing Council was also put in place with interim chief Chirayu Amin confirmed as Chairman. The other members include Rajiv Shukla, Anurag Thakur, Ranjib Biswal and Arun Jaitley. Former India captain Ravi Shastri has been retained in the council.

Gavaskar was among three former India captains in the previous council. Of the other two, Ravi Shastri has agreed to be on the governing council in an honorary capacity. Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi too has been retained.  Ex-cricketers on the council were earlier paid Rs one crore, but will now not be paid. The IPL governing council will have five members and two cricketers will be part of the committee.

Sunil Gavaskar was available in the evening, but refused to comment to the media on his exclusion from the committee. The exclusion of Gavaskar has come as a big surprise and no apparent reasons are available except that he was silent on the deeds of Lalit Modi. He should not have been excluded from the committee as he has thorough knowledge about cricket India and is an authority on analysing cricket related issues.

Minister of state for commerce Jyotiraditya Scindia has been named Chairman of the finance committee.
 
Shashank Manohar, who retained his post as BCCI president unopposed, announced the decisions after the AGM. BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan too has retained his post.

Meanwhile, Union Minister and president of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Farooq Abdullah and Punjab Cricket Association President IS Bindra have been removed from the IPL Governing Council. It’s important to note here that Bindra was one of the few people who had continued to show support for suspended IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.

The BCCI has withdrawn the 2006 expulsion of Jagmohan Dalmiya and a suit filed against in the Bombay High Court. Dalmiya had been suspended for “anti-Board activities.”

The AGM’s main agenda was to make sure that suspended IPL boss Lalit Modi was removed from all BCCI and IPL posts and bodies. Manohar said, “Modi can’t say he’s suspended anymore. He’s out of the BCCI.”

The BCCI has also issued show-cause notices to the new Kochi IPL franchise and to the Shilpa-Shetty-co-owned Rajasthan Royals and Priety-Zinta-co-owned Kings XI Punjab IPL for alleged irregularities.

Explaining why charges against Dalmiya were dropped, Manohar said there was little chance of the board succeeding in the civil suit and there was no point continuing to spend money on a suit that the board was not going to win.

The new Kochi franchise had been told to incorporate a company as soon as possible, Manohar said. The bid earlier this year, he said, had been given to individuals and no legal entity had been incorporated.

Moreover, the Board also announced the names of the vice-presidents who will remain in office for another year. They are: Niranjan Shah (West Zone), Rajiv Shukla (Central Zone in place of Lalit Modi), Arindam Ganguly (East Zone), Arun Jaitley (North Zone) and Shivlal Yadav (South Zone). Sanjay Jagdale and MP Pandove would continue as the joint-secretary and treasurer.

The BCCI had on Tuesday nominated its secretary N Srinivasan for the president-elect’s post. He is due to take over from current BCCI chief Shashank Manohar next year.

Ravi Matah.