Rahul Dravid seeks clarity on Guha's "conflict of interest" allegation

Rahul Dravid seeks clarity on Guha's "conflict of interest" allegation

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Rahul Dravid has written to the Committee of Administrators (CoA) to get some clarity on the conflict of interest rules in Indian cricket. The former Indian batsman was one of the people that Guha had implied who had a conflict of interest owing to his respective roles for the BCCI and in the IPL.

In his letter, following his resignation, Ramachandra Guha, without naming Dravid, said allegedly that it was "contrary to the spirit of the Lodha Committee" for the Indian team's coaches and support staff to be involved in the IPL as well. Currently, the BCCI hands out ten-month contracts so that the national team coaches are freed up for IPL duty. Dravid, who was the coach for the Delhi Daredevils, is joined by India's fielding coach R Sridhar and physio Patrick Farhart in the IPL as the duo are a part of the Kings XI Punjab set up, while the chief physio of the NCA, Andrew Leipus, is contracted with the Kolkata Knight Riders.

"Yes, I have written to the CoA explaining my position and explaining the background against which this perceived conflict of interest has happened. By the BCCI's conflict of interest rules, I was absolutely not under a conflict of interest. If the rules have changed midway through the contract, then I think it is unfair to criticise me for breaking the rules or twisting the rules to suit my convenience," Dravid told ESPNcricinfo. 

"My simple point is that, not only me but there are five or six of us who are in the same position. There needs to be clarity. If there is clarity, we will be in a position to take an informed decision. It is disappointing the way this got played out in the public without much understanding of the background."

Dravid is currently negotiating a new contract with the CoA and a source close to the discussions claimed that the Administrators are looking set up a broad framework straighten out the conflict-of-interest issue in a meeting scheduled on June 12. 

"It's not that this has suddenly cropped up today. Nobody is against resolving any of these issues. You have to do it in a holistic manner and that's a work in progress. And certain things have a certain process. You will have to figure out what the right framework is. It is not a situation-specific thing. You need to develop a framework that addresses conflict based on principles," ESPNcricinfo reported an official saying. 

While the CoA appears to have decided to increase the contracts of the Test players, the official added that they are working on a framework that includes the coaches and support staff as well.  

"That [increasing remunerations] is the point we are considering, in terms of increasing the contracts for Test players to the extent that it has to be something that is reasonable even if somebody does not get an IPL contract. We have to think through what the framework is for coaches and support staff.

"There are pros and cons that need to be weighed appropriately and then a decision has to be made based on who's available for these things. Not that there are unlimited number of people available or quality people available, so all that has to be kept in mind."

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