Sachin Tendulkar’s Conflict of Interest case hearing postponed to May 20 despite in-person deposition

A member of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) Sanjeev Gupta had filed a complaint last month for Sachin Tendulkar’s alleged conflict of interest for serving as a mentor of IPL franchise Mumbai Indians as well as being a member of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC). However, Tendulkar had rejected those charges and wrote a letter to the BCCI, asking what exactly constitutes the conflict of interest and requested Jain to call upon the Committee of Administrators (CoA) chief Vinod Rai and BCCI CEO Rahul Johri to "clarify their position."

"Without prejudice to the aforesaid, the noticee submits that it is surprising that the BCCI, being the very authority responsible for the noticees empanelment to the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), is presently taking a position that the noticee is exposed to an alleged conflict of interest. It is reiterated that the noticee was declared as the Mumbai Indians 'icon' post his retirement in 2013, which was much prior to his appointment to the CAC in 2015," Tendulkar said in his 13-point letter to BCCI on May 5.

"The BCCI response does not clarify this variance in its stance and the noticee requests the Honourable Ethics Officer to call upon BCCI officials, Mr. Rahul Johri and Mr. Vinod Rai to clarify this position," he added.

However, the BCCI Ombudsman, who also doubles up as the Ethics Officer, found out that Tendulkar’s position in the “tractable” category and asked him to deposit in front of him. Tendulkar followed the order and made himself available in Delhi, but the matter has failed to reach a consensus and the final verdict will be out on May 20.