A concerned Sourav Ganguly has written an open letter to the BCCI on the sexual harassment allegations made against CEO Rahul Johri and the state of cricket administration in India, pertaining to the workings of many committees including that of the Supreme Court constituted Committee of Administrators (CoA).
In the letter, the former India captain expressed his concern that the Indian cricket is losing its image.
"I write this mail to you all with the deep sense of fear as to where Indian cricket administration is going. Having played the game for a long period of time, where our lives were ruled by winning and losing, and the image of Indian cricket was of paramount importance to us. We wake up looking at how our cricket is faring even now...
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"But with a deep sense of worry, (I used the word worry) I beg to state that the way things have gone in the last couple of years, the authority of the Indian cricket to the world and the love and belief of millions of fans in on the way down," he wrote.
Addressing the letter to BCCI acting President CK Khanna, Secretary Amitabh Chaudhary and Treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry, Ganguly continued, "I don't know how far it's true, but the recent reports of harassment have really made the BCCI look very poorly... more so the way it has been handled."
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Last week, the Supreme Court constituted Committee of Administrators (CoA) formed a three-member panel to probe the allegation against Johri but chairman Vinod Rai stood in the way of his sacking which was demanded by his fellow CoA member among others.
The Rai-led CoA, which has former women's captain Diana Edulji as the only other member, said that Johri has submitted his response to the show-cause notice issued against him after an anonymous account of the alleged incident came up on social media.
Talking about cricket administration, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president remarked that the CoA "from four [member] has come down to two and now the two seems to be divided. Cricketing rules are changed in the middle of a season, which has never been heard off... decisions made in committees are turned around with complete disrespect."
It's worth noting that the CoA decided to relax the one-year rule for wards of government employees to be considered local players in a mid-season rule change. According to reports, the decision was taken without consulting BCCI's technical committee. Interestingly, Ganguly is the head of the committee.
In 2017, Vinod Rai, Ramachandra Guha, Vikram Limaye and Diana Edulji became the members of the CoA at the Supreme Court's directive to implement the Lodha committee reforms. Guha and Limaye have since left the committee, leaving only Rai and Edulji.
Ganguly also took the opportunity to share his experience "in the matter of coach selection", saying it was "appalling".
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He was also a member of the cricket advisory committee tasked to select India coach. Batting greats Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman were other members.
Hailed as one of the greatest Indian captains, Ganguly played 113 Tests and 311 ODIs, scoring 7212 and 11363 runs respectively. He has 38 international hundreds.
