Had joined CAC to serve Indian cricket: Laxman to Ombudsman

New Delhi, April 29 (IANS) After being asked to explain his position in the alleged case of conflict for his role as Sunrisers Hyderabad mentor as well as a member of the BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), former India middle-order batsman V.V.S Laxman has ripped into the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) and said that he had joined the CAC to serve Indian cricket and not to get engulfed in a conflict of interest mess.

Formed in 2015 under then BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya, the trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Laxman had been roped in for the committee which was expected to work towards betterment of Indian cricket.

Laxman in the letter drafted by his lawyer has made it clear that the idea of serving Indian cricket even after retirement was the reason behind him joining the CAC and not to stand in a position wherein his motive would be questioned.

"It will be worthwhile to note that the reason I agreed to be a member was because of the various inputs we were originally tasked with contributing towards the sustained growth of Indian cricket. The opportunity to be involved meaningfully in India's climb towards becoming a cricketing superpower post retirement was privilege enough for me to turn down the offer of remuneration of being a part of CAC.

"The allegation of the complainant are baseless as we are in no manner selectors of either players or coaches and CAC is not a permanent body," his mail read.

In fact, he also spoke about the lack of communication from the CoA and their refusal to explain to the trio how exactly they were expected to function.

"On December 7, 2018, we had written to the Committee of Administrators requesting them to clarify the scope of our role and responsibilities. To this date, there has been no reply. Since no tenure had been mentioned in the letter of intent issued in 2015, it was only reasonable to expect some communication on whether the CAC was still in existence," he wrote.

The former India player also added that none of the roles that he was initially expected to perform as a member of the CAC has been given to either of the trio and that they are by no means selectors. He went on to add that since he wasn't even aware of the existence of the committee, he couldn't be held on account of conflict.

"...none of the CAC members has (sic) been called on to give our opinion on any subjects except to be invited to be involved in the selection of national coaches and, once, the selection of junior national selectors. However, this is by no means a regular process and I am in no manner to be considered a selector.

"It is my respectful submission that when I am barely required to discharge any duties as a member of the CAC, which I wasn't even sure existed due to the lack of communication until I received this notice, questions of any conflict of interest doesn't arise," Laxman clarified.