It is not only the Supreme Court appointed Lodha Committee, who has been criticising the Board of Cricket for Control in India for not complying with the Lodha recommendations. Former cricketer Kirti Azad has also now taken a dig at the cash-rich cricket board. The cricketer-turned-politician was critical of the board, and even referred to them as a "spoilt child."
The BCCI has been asked by the Lodha Committee to make some changes in their organisation, and they did implement some, but not all. The Lodha Committee has suggested changes in the organistaion for the betterment of India cricket, and they also want the BCCI to be a transparent organisation.
Azad took a further dig stating that there are no friends or foe in the BCCI, but it is the money, which is keeping the members together.
"BCCI is like a spoilt child. When Lodha Committee said that enough is enough and the game can't be run like this, this spoilt child, after his toys have been taken away from him, is crying," The Times of India quoted Azad as saying.
"Everywhere there's a ruling party or group and the opposition, except for the BCCI. It's a united alliance - united in corruption and alliances for position. It's a classic mix of UPA and NDA.
"The board president was once with UPA (Sharad Pawar) and now is with NDA (Anurag Thakur). Jyotiraditya Scindia lost the BCCI vice-president post and became a part of BCCI's most powerful finance committee. Rajiv Shukla lost the post of treasurer but became the IPL chairman. Nobody is friend or foe in BCCI. The money has kept them together."
The former cricketer feels that the Lodha panel has asked for some changes to better India cricket, and if the BCCI does not follow them, it is India cricket, which might suffer, leading to hockey-like scenario in India.
"Cricket isn't anybody's property. The current officials feel that BCCI is their personal fiefdom. We supported the recommendations and intervened in the Supreme Court. You see how hockey suffered because of bad management. Once it was the most popular game but now general public doesn't even know the names of our players. These recommendations have come just at the right time to save cricket," Azad said.
