SC verdict 'harsh': ousted BCCI officials

Cricket administrators ousted by a January 2 Supreme Court order met here on Saturday and considered their options.

The meeting, called by former BCCI president and Tamil Nadu strongman N Srinivasan, was attended by bigwigs like sacked board president Anurag Thakur, former secretary Ajay Shirke, IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla, former KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel and BCCI vice-president G Gangaraju. 

Sources privy to the proceedings said the displaced office-bearers were ‘hurt’ and unanimous in their view that the court verdict was ‘a bit harsh’. The common sentiment was that the office-bearers could have been given another chance to set the house in order within the existing BCCI structure, considering how much they had contributed to the game. The members also felt all their efforts for the ‘development of the game’ had been overlooked.

“If the administration was as bad as is being made out now, the BCCI wouldn’t be the richest cricket body in the world. Everyone knows this is the best-run sports body in the country, and yet we have been singled out,” a source said.