Kapil Dev likely to face opposition as a member of CoA

Kapil Dev

When the Committee of Administrators (CoA) meet tomorrow in New Delhi to decide the members of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) that will pick the Indian men's team head coach and its support staff members, there is likely to be a huge debate over choosing at least one member of that committee.

It is learnt that the appointment of Kapil Dev is likely to face some opposition during the three-member CoA meeting. While India's 1983 World Cup-winning captain is the first choice of one CoA member, there will be some level of opposition since Kapil already holds a post in the Indian Cricketers' Association (ICA), the official players body. The legendary all-rounder cannot hold another post under the new BCCI constitution. Kapil is one of the directors of the ICA along with Shantha Rangaswamy and Ajit Agarkar. Anshuman Gaekwad, who was a part of the ICA steering committee, has taken up a role with the BCCI's affiliation committee.

The CAC had to be formed again after its previous members - Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman - resigned recently under the one-man, one-post clause.

It is not just the appointment of CAC members that will be debated, even the formation of the CAC by the CoA could be challenged. Under the new constitution, only the BCCI's general body has the power to form the CAC. As per a CoA directive, it is discharging the functions of the Apex Council, and hence they forming the CAC is not in their jurisdiction. Meanwhile, in another development, the BCCI Ombudsman Justice DK Jain has taken up the appointment of India women's coach WV Raman.

The former India batsman's appointment last December took place in a controversial manner after an ad-hoc panel was formed by a divided two-member CoA. A new coach was appointed after Ramesh Powar had a fallout with senior player Mithali Raj during India's T20 World Cup campaign in the Caribbean.

Justice Jain, who is also the BCCI's ethics officer, has taken cognisance of conflict of interest complaints filed against a prominent BCCI employee, Mayank Parikh.

Parikh, the former logistics manager of the Indian team, owns six clubs affiliated to the Mumbai Cricket Association. This is the fourth complaint the ethics officer has taken into account after dealing with the high profile cases of Tendulkar, Laxman and Sourav Ganguly.

'MS Dhoni did not inform CoA'

THE mystery behind MS Dhoni's two-month break is growing deeper by the day. Yesterday, BCCI sources told mid-day that the veteran India wicketkeeper-batsman had not informed the Committee of Administrators (CoA) about his break from the game. The CoA is the supreme body at the moment that is in-charge of BCCI's functioning. If Dhoni did not inform the CoA about his unavailability, then whom did he intimate? Interestingly, when chairman of selectors MSK Prasad declared the teams for the West Indies tour, he did not start the press conference with the confirmation of Dhoni's break. Prasad only spoke about Dhoni when questions related to the former India skipper were thrown at him.

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