Photo Credit: Instagram Profile Photo of @jayshah220988 & @gavaskarsunilofficial
Praises Jay Shah’s leadership of BCCI
Following India’s recent triumph in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, former India Captain and 1983 World Cup Winner Sunil Gavaskar spoke about the leadership of the BCCI.
In an appearance on AajTak, he was specifically asked: “given what you’ve seen in the past with the BCCI, how does the quality of governance now compare with other nations and with our own past?”
In his response, Gavaskar, himself a former interim President of the BCCI, had high praise for BCCI Secretary Jay Shah’s leadership of the organization.
“Look, I think the quality of governance has always been… such that they’ve always looked at Indian cricket to promote India. You know there will always be the odd person who’s been a little disappointing if one might use the word but I think what this particular lot has done has been quite outstanding.”
Gavaskar went on to note Jay Shah’s accomplishments despite being a political appointee:
“I think I know a lot of people look at Jay Shah, and don’t look at Jay Shah but look at his father being in the government and therefore take aim at Jay Shah. But what Jay Shah has done bringing in the Women’s Premier League making the women’s payment on par with the Indian Indian men’s team, increasing the fees for the IPL guys, doubling and trebling the incentive to play all the matches – all the things that he has done are praiseworthy.”
Gavaskar went on to note that often non-players make better administrators than former players:
“A lot of people don’t want to give him any credit… because of another agenda, completely a political agenda. My experience to be honest with you is that those who love the game of cricket will do a lot more for Indian cricket than those who have actually played it. That’s been my experience, I’m sorry to say.
“But my experience is that those who actually love the game of cricket might not have played at the highest level they will, if you tell them properly, if you convince them, they will do a lot more for Indian cricket than those who have played it.”
Assessing why some former cricketers-turned-administrators fell short, Gavaskar argued:
“Because those who have played it sometimes tend to stay back in their age and [say] ‘you know this is what happened during our time so you know maybe why should the current lot get this?’
Gavaskar went on to describe the appropriate role in his administration for former cricketers in administration:
“I would rather sometimes… have the former cricketers for technical issues like rules of the game, playing conditions of the game, what should be done to make the Ranji trophy more competitive – all those things you know are good for former cricketers to bring in their experience. As far as the administration, the finance part etc is concerned – leave it to the experts.”
