Time to redefine conflict clause in BCCI’s constitution, says Dilip Vengsarkar

Indian cricket has undergone several changes within its constitution in the last two years, but none of them have gained as much negative criticism as the conflict of interest clause. On Tuesday, news emerged that BCCI's ombudsman DK Jain had asked Kapil Dev and Anshuman Gaekwad to appear in person on December 27-28. This is after they, and the third member of the in the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) panel, Shantha Rangaswamy, had quit the CAC due to the same issue. Earlier, cricket greats Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly, too had to quit the CAC due to the same issue. 

Interestingly, all these complaints have been filed by the same individual, Sanjeev Gupta, who is a life member of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA). 

"The way the conflict of interest clause is defined, I feel its anti-cricketers. Such a thing, if applied, will only drive away former cricketers from serving the game. It's time to redefine the conflict of interest clause for the betterment of the game in the country," Vengsarkar told TOI.

A former India skipper himself, Vengsarkar wants to see more former cricketers take up the administrative positions in national board and its state units all over the country. 

"As it is, I don't see any cricketers in the administration of an association. In most of the state associations, there are only non-cricketers taking decisions which concern cricket, which is a sad state of affairs indeed," he said.

"I always believe that a cricketer as an administrator can take the correct decision more often than not simply because of his/her cricketing background and the experience he/she has of playing international cricket all around the globe. Like a lawyer or a doctor, a cricketer can give you expertise in his own field only. Then, why single out cricketers for conflict of interest when he/she wants to serve the game."