BCCI sends Indian Cricketers Association for registration

By Baidurjo Bhose

New Delhi, May 8 (IANS) The much-awaited players' association of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to be called the Indian Cricketers Association and should be in place in the next two to three weeks.

The name has already been referred for registration and the body is set to come into existence before the next annual general meeting (AGM) of the cricket board.

Speaking to IANS, a senior BCCI functionary said that things were under process and it should be a matter of a couple of weeks before Indian cricket has its players' association as per the diktat of the Lodha panel.

"Indian Cricketers Association is the name and it has been sent for registration. Once that is through, all the processes will start. We must have the players' association before the next AGM of the BCCI. It will be a sub-committee," the functionary explained.

Commenting on the role of the players' association, the functionary said: "Two people from the players' association will be nominated for the apex council. It will be completely different from the technical committee of the BCCI. The names for the executive committee will come in only after the states register their constitution and conduct their elections."

The official said that all decisions regarding the composition of the players' association will be taken by the steering committee which consists of Kapil Dev, Bharath Reddy, Anshuman Gaekwad and former India women's team captain Shantha Rangaswamy.

"The number of players who will be part of the executive committee and their scope of work will be decided by the four members along with convenor G.K. Pillai. They also have a legal advisor in Nandan Kamath," the functionary explained.

Noting on the need to have a players' association, the Lodha panel had said: "There shall be a Cricket Players' Association affording membership to all international and most first class men and women retired cricketers. This Association shall discharge assigned functions with the financial support of the BCCI. It shall be brought into existence by an independent steering committee."

A senior BCCI executive though said that a couple of things needed to be kept in mind with regards to the formation of the sub-committee. "The real concern here is that this process has been limited to a very small group of people and this may give them a first mover advantage over the other ex-players in making it to the BCCI's apex council. Therefore the ones involved in the process must on all fairness cool off before participating in elections. There also seems to be no check on people suspected of or punished for immoral conduct and anti-corruption violations," the executive pointed.

(Baidurjo Bhose can be contacted at baidurjo.b@ians.in)