BCCI and CoA clash over the speaker for the MAK Pataudi Memorial Lecture
BCCI and Committee of Administrators (CoA) are at war again and this time, it is for the speaker of the MAK Pataudi Memorial Lecture. CoA felt Kumar Sangakkara would be best for the occasion, but BCCI wants a former Indian cricketer, who played alongside Tiger Pataudi, to give the speech.
In a surprise move, the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) picked Kumar Sangakkara to speak at the MAK Pataudi Memorial Lecture. The decision has not gone down well with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) office-bearers, who opined that former Indian cricketers, who played alongside Tiger Pataudi, would bring more value to the occasion and felt someone among Nari Contractor, Chandu Borde, Erapalli Prasanna and Abbas Ali Baig should be invited as the speaker.
As per reports from CricketNext, Acting Secretary Amitabh Chaudhary has sent a mail to CoA chief Vinod Rai regarding the same. In the mail, Chaudhary had stood by the Board’s stance and asked the CoA to reconsider their decision. He stated that he is unable to agree with the proposal of the committee unless the ones named by him are disqualified for other reasons. He also added that if CoA decides to overrule them then, as in the past, he will have no option but to go with the decision of the CoA.
“When the matter was discussed with me at Bangalore a couple of days ago I had suggested we also look for probable speakers amongst distinguished cricketers of yesteryears such as Nari Contractor, Chandu Borde, Erapalli Prasanna and Abbas Ali Baig. These cricketers have even the distinction of having played alongside Tiger Pataudi and if any of them agrees it could provide the
“Chandu Borde was one of the most prolific batsmen of the day while Prasanna became the fastest Indian to take
“As I understand Tiger Memorial Lecture is not an elocution contest and reasonable communication skills are all that we should look for. It is meant to bring to the fore the evolution of the game, what it meant to play for the country in the old days, the hardships of the time, challenges of the future and the like. If that be the case, certainly once every few years an iconic cricketer of yore should find a place as the keynote speaker in the memorial lecture. Besides, the present heroes could always come in later as renowned cricketers of the past are a disappearing species,” Amitabh Chaudhary wrote to Vinod Rai in a mail, which is in possession of CricketNext.
GM cricket operation, Saba Karim had asked both CoA and BCCI to give their suggestions for the speaker of the lecture to be held on June 12 in Bengaluru. The names of the speakers suggested by Karim were Sourav Ganguly, Kumar Sangakkara, Kevin Peterson and Nasser Hussain.
Sangakkara’s name was suggested by Diana Edulji and Vinod Rai agreed to the same and asked Saba Karim to have a word with Kumar Sangakkara. The first instalment of the lecture was organized by BCCI on February 20, 2013.