Former Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) president Shashank Manohar on July 18 said that the Board did not take any timely steps to clean up the mess in the IPL and now it has no choice but to comply with Lodha Committee’s recommendations. “The BCCI has done nothing to improve its image and now the Board has no option but to implement Lodha Committee’s findings,” Manohar told reporters. He insisted that the BCCI’s indifference compelled the Supreme Court-appointed Lodha Committee to take action. “There has been no action from the BCCI to clean the mess and the Board’s work is done by the court. BCCI has to be proactive and look at the interest of the institution and not that of an individual in order to re-impose faith in the minds of the people,” Manohar, who met the current BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya, said.
Manohar criticised N Srinivasan, saying that the Tamil Nadu strongman should have stepped down as BCCI president when the spot-fixing scandal first broke out in 2013. “Srinivasan should have stepped down in 2013, no individual is ahead of institution and he too is the root of all scandal and should immediately step down from his position as chairman of ICC,” he said. On July 14, the Lodha Committee recommended suspension of two IPL franchise — Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals — for two years from the cash-rich league for betting activities of their key officials Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra during the 2013 season. The committee also banned CSK team principal Meiyappan and Royals’ co-owner Kundra for life from any cricket-related activity after they were found guilty of placing bets.