The BCCI has adopted a cautious stance in the aftermath of the Supreme Court asking the Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee to probe further into allegations of corruption in the IPL.
BCCI vice-president Ravi Sawant, however, said there was no erosion of the Board’s credibility.
“There is no question of that,” he said.
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“The Supreme Court has clearly said it doesn’t want to interfere with the autonomy of the BCCI. We were asked to appoint a probe panel and we did. If the Supreme Court feels someone else should conduct the probe, do we have a choice? We are going by their directions,” he added, in a chat with
On why someone such as Ravi Shastri, who is contracted with the BCCI, was named in the panel, Sawant confined himself to just saying: “People like Shastri and (Sunil) Gavaskar are legendary cricketers.”
A top former BCCI official rued that the whole episode had resulted in cricket being sidelined.
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“I feel sorry for the cricketers and the fans of the game. The decisions have to be made by the officials concerned.
“But, whatever is happening is very unfortunate, and it’s certainly hurting the game,” he said.
Others such as Ranjib Biswal, chairman of the IPL governing council, and Ratnakar Shetty, general manager (game development), BCCI, were understandably cagey and unwilling to comment on the development.
“We don’t discuss this in the media,” said Shetty.
Former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi, though, pulled no punches.
“The BCCI is crawling for credibility. Any layman can point this out.
“I endorse what Ajit Wadekar said. Everybody is trying to save their administrative face — their ugly administrative face, rather.
“Nobody is bothered about the game. Why did they allow matters to reach this stage? This should have been nipped in the bud.”