Wasn’t aware about Vikram Rathour's 'conflict of interest', says CoA chief Vinod Rai

There seems to be no end to the petty tussles between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrator (CoA) officials, as recent events have suggested. The Mithali Raj-Ramesh Powar saga, the appointment of coach for the women’s team and the issue over punishment for Hardik Pandya’s comments on national television all brought out contrasting reactions from both the bodies. The latest issue at hand which has led to a difference in opinion is the appointment of Vikram Rathour as batting coach of the India A team by BCCI’s head of operations - Saba Karim.

CoA chief Vinod Rai has expressed that he was not informed about Rathour's ‘conflict of interest’ by Karim or any other official from BCCI ahead of the latter’s appointment to the post.

"Neither me nor my colleague Diana Edulji was informed about any conflict. On the contrary, I was told that Rahul Dravid has approved it. If it's true that Rathour is conflicted, and Rahul wasn't informed about the same, I'll be taking this up very seriously," Rai told TOI.

Sources from inside BCCI also told TOI reporters about the whole speculation surrounding Rathour’s placement. Apparently, Rathour is a relative of Under-19 selector Ashish Kapoor and a cousin of former BCCI president Anurag Thakur.

"In the case of Kapoor, it's a clear case of conflict. What's happening here? In Thakur's case, it's not wrong to be related to him but then, the COA has denied a former BCCI employee a job because he has worked with Thakur in the past. There can't be apples and oranges," sources said.

Krishna Pophale, the former executive assistant to Thakur, when the latter was BCCI chief, had applied some months ago for a role of in the Board's assistant operations team but the application was rejected by the COA because of his earlier working relations with Thakur.

"So, how is Rathour okay? By the way, the COA talks much about due diligence. Did it do due diligence this time? They made such a ruckus over the appointment of women's coach," sources revealed.

Meanwhile, the ousted Pophale has been requesting BCCI to give back his employment in BCCI for close to a year now after he was forced to vacate his post in 2017. 

"That boy can't work because he worked with Thakur in the past. But Rathour can, even if he's related. What's going on?" say BCCI members.

Reports suggest that Karim approached Dravid with the names of Rathour and Vijay Yadav (appointed for Under-19) after WV Raman left the National Cricket Academy to coach the Indian women’s team.