BCCI and CoA clash over the speaker for the MAK Pataudi Memorial Lecture

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 much needed perspective on how cricket has evolved from those years of challenge. Nari was the captain of the touring Indian Team to West Indies when he was struck by a bouncer and the brave man faced it all. This had resulted in Tiger taking over as the youngest ever Test captain having to lead a team of stalwarts such as Manjrekar, Borde, Nadkarni, Jaishima and Umrigar.

“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.