Kapil Dev, one of the legends of Indian Cricket and the man who brought us our only World Cup victory is at loggerheads with the BCCI. And all this because of his affiliation with a new cricket league.
The Indian Cricket League is a venture started by the head honcho at Zee TV. His aim is to create a parallel system to bring out more talent by providing money and facilities incentives.
While not much is known about the true intent or working of the ICL, BCCI has gone on record to dismiss it completely. BCCI feels threatened by this whole issue and feels that the ICL could become a challenge to its authority as the sole custodian of Indian cricket.
The BCCI sent out a directive to all officials and players not to associate themselves with ICL. This directive is binding to Kapil Dev too, in his capacity as Chairman of the National Cricket Academy.
Kapil Dev has gone on record challenging the BCCI to sack him if they want to, because he is going to be a part of ICL in advisory capacity. And from what it looks like, BCCI is going to do exactly that.
As an office bearer of BCCI, Kapil needs to obey the rules set down by the organisation. Therefore his challenging their orders does not make sense. If he really feels that he can do whatever he wants and join whatever league he so wishes, he should do the correct thing and resign from one and join the other. There is no doubt that holding positions in both leagues is a conflict of interest.
To note here is that both positions are financially benificial to Kapil. Therefore to an outsider it looks like “Paaji” likes to butter his toast (or paratha) on both sides !!
However, the BCCI should not remove Kapils name from the list of sportsmen who receive pension for life. The pension is paid as a tribute to the players for their heroics in their playing days. It comes without conditions, once a player has retired and is eligible for it.
Hope the powers that be come to their senses and a consensus is met.
What do you think. Is Kapil justified ? Is he banking on his popularity with the Indian public ??
