The Committee of Administrators (CoA) will meet here on Wednesday to deliberate on BCCI’s response to the proposal to include the sport in the 2024 Olympic Games. The CoA will also take a look at many issues including revising the pay structure for domestic cricketers and former India skipper Mohammad Azharuddin’s request to be paid his dues — one-time payment, benevolent fund and pension.
The ‘conflict of interest’ issue will also be taken up as the Board has raised a few objections in this regard. The meeting is expected to approve the list of BCCI’s panel of TV commentators for the ensuing season.
Following his representations to the Board, Azharuddin is expecting to receive his dues which were withheld following his ban for alleged match-fixing. Azharuddin defended his case in the Andhra Pradesh High Court and got it to rule against BCCI’s process of conducting the probe and arriving at the decision to banning him for life.
The Board also did not challenge the HC ruling and Azharuddin has since been pleading for the clearance of his dues.
Azharuddin’s case also brings into focus the issue of Manoj Prabhakar, Ajay Jadeja, Ajay Sharma and S. Sreesanth, the last-named exonerated of match-fixing allegations by the Kerala HC. The Board had slapped a life ban on Sreesanth and the former India fast bowler has now expressed his desire to return to cricket.
Prabhakar, who had served his five-year ban and returned to the mainstream by coaching Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Afghanistan, has also written to the Board regarding his dues. “I have written many times but have not heard from it,” said Prabhakar, who keenly awaits CoA’s views on the issue.
Ajay too was given a reprieve by a Delhi court and the Board is yet to contest that decision. In his case, Ajay would have to announce his retirement before seeking his dues.
Even former India all-rounder Jadeja has not been paid his dues. He too may have to announce his retirement before falling in the category of beneficiaries.
Another cricketer who expects the Board to review his case is former India batsman Dinesh Mongia, who is the only cricketer not to have been granted amnesty for playing in the Indian Cricket League. He was charged with match-fixing but claimed, “There has been no evidence against me. There is no BCCI ban either but I have not been paid my dues for a decade.”
