BCCI Denies Coaching Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri in the Commentary Box

Suddenly the India England series is not the only concern for the Indian cricket fan. Slowly but surely gathering steam is the scandalous seeming news reports that have forced the BCCI into responding to the new stories by claiming like the two former Indian cricketers that there is no verbal compulsion on either of them being imposed by the board. But is the Indian fan convinced?

Sunil Gavaskar with Mahendra Singh Dhoni

That seems to be the question because despite individual denials by the two men who are now permanent members of the commentary box during India’s matches, the average Indian cricket fan has taken a repulsive view of things and have not held back expressing their venom and concern. To them, the nexus that the BCCI has created by paying the two cricketers is blasphemy committed as far as the commentator’s role.

However, the BCCI has denied that there is even the question of a conflict of interest because the BCCI says it is doing nothing but reward the two cricketers for nothing more than being men of quality, the going price is reportedly Rs.3.6 crores. The BCCI is echoing the words expressed by Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri, who are currently in England covering the India England series, when they deny that the two former cricketers are being paid to voice the BCCI’s stance on issues related to cricket – where it is about the UDRS or other matters such as the glowing status of the IPL, something Ravi Shastri alluded to in his spat with Nasser Hussain.

There has been growing contempt in public ever since the story broke and it has only gathered strength in numbers as the issue began to sink in. Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri were on the IPL governing council and although Shastri continues to be on the BCCI board agenda, Gavaskar reportedly had a fall out after he was not paid his promised remuneration outside of his contract with the former IPL chairman and commissioner, Lalit Modi. The money became the strong point of that fall out but it seems because of the broadcast deal with the BCCI has made it compulsory that the two men be a part of the commentary box for all of India’s international matches appears to have worked in Gavaskar’s favour.

Even as the cricket world continues to debate the ethics of a cricket board having paid commentators on board, defying the conservative convention of cricket commentators, the BCCI along with Gavaskar and Shastri are in unison when the general summary is that Gavaskar and Shastri are working in their own individual capacity and their job details involves expressing their own points of view that do not necessary find agreement with the BCCI. That is the opinion being expressed in public in trying to defuse the tensions that have erupted following the outbreak of the story.

Fans are putting two and two together and attacking the two men who have been associated with Indian cricket for sometime now although not in the position where they could directly influence the cricket team, selection policy or the like. Now if the contract is indeed embedded deeper, it does bring the entire role of the commentator and the television broadcast into question of ethics, something that could become a whole new sphere of cricket controversy, the seeds of which appear to have been sown.