Our crusade is moving in the right direction: Verma

Aditya Verma, locked in a legal battle against N. Srinivasan, has expressed high hopes of cricket being cleansed of corruption soon.

“Our crusade against corruption is moving in the right direction,” said Verma, the petitioner in the case and also the secretary of the Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB). “The corruption has reached its nadir. It should come to an end,” Verma said on Thursday.

Taking note of the court observations, Verma claimed he had been fighting for this for many years now.

“On several occasions, I had pointed out that the BCCI had been indulging in anti-cricket activities taking umbrage

(sic) under the term of being a private body. After all, they are answerable to the public for playing with the dreams and aspirations of thousands of young cricketers and millions of cricket lovers.”

According to IPL rules, asserted Verma, if a team official was found indulging in corrupt activities like betting, the franchise could be terminated. The probe panel headed by former judge Mukul Mudgal has said in its report that Gurunath Meiyappan was a team official and indulged in betting.

Special Correspondent in Hyderabad adds

Meanwhile, BCCI interim president N. Shivlal Yadav, who was appointed by the Supreme Court as the interim chief of the Board in April this year, said the Board would be able to explore its options only after a clear picture emerges following the final judgement.

He said that the Annual General Meeting would be held as scheduled on December 17, and the process of elections would be completed, as stated by the Supreme Court on Thursday.

“There is no other way out other than to obey whatever orders the Supreme Court issues,” Yadav said.

“We are aware of what the Supreme Court said today on all related developments. But the BCCI legal counsel will present its case and then wait for the final judgement,” he said.

Reflecting on the possibility of ICC chairman N. Srinivasan being barred from contesting, Yadav said he could only point out that they would strictly go by the Court order.

“Once the matter is before the Court, we can only implement what the highest court in the country says. No one is above the law. We have the highest respect for the judiciary,” he said.

“I hope the guessing games about the names of the players who were allegedly involved in the match-fixing scandal will soon come to an end. I will not react to any hypothetical queries on who is or not involved.

“So, let us just wait for a couple of more days when all issues will be addressed,” Yadav said.