Cricket action promises to take centre stage as the reliable Sunil Gavaskar accepted to serve as the BCCI president till IPL 2014 is completed. Former cricketers and BCCI officials were more than elated to see the elevation Gavaskar received from Supreme Court's hearing on Friday.
Chandu Borde, Ajit Wadekar and Kiran More were among the ones, who voiced their opinions in favour of the SC decision to replace the allegedly corrupt N Srinivasan with the former Indian captain Gavaskar.
"This is a very good thing that the Supreme Court has done," Borde told reporters. "It's a great opportunity to the cricketers as cricket would be given priority in IPL whose image has taken quite a beating because of the allegations of betting, match fixing etc.
"Gavaskar is a man known for playing with the straight bat. There will be a lot of transparency under his guidance. He is known to have his own mind and I don't think anyone would dare to indulge in corrupt practices with him at the helm."
Gavaskar had made his debut under Wadekar's captaincy in 1971 in the Caribbean, the latter hopes the original little master can deliver the goods.
"Glad that a legend like Gavaskar has been given the charge of the BCCI," Wadekar said. "Really good to see cricketers at the helm, including Shivlal Yadav."
Yadav, the senior-most vice-president of the BCCI, will be taking care of non-IPL affairs while Gavaskar solely focuses on the IPL, according to the SC orders. Yadav is the secretary of the Hyderabad Cricket Association and hopes to do his best.
"I am quite happy to hear the news that I will be looking after cricket affairs after the IPL," Yadav said. "I will try to do my best."
Former Indian wicket-keeper More also hailed the SC move. "Gavaskar was a player, so he knows what are the problems faced by the cricketers," More noted. "He was also part of the IPL governing council so he would know about the workings of it. He was the ICC cricket committee chairman, so he shouldn't find the role of the president difficult.
"There are lot of issues, but the most important thing for me is cricket should go on."
Wadekar agreed with More's remarks and added that the first task in hand for the BCCI officials is to restore the faith in the game among fans.
"The big challenge before them is to restore confidence of fans in the game which has taken a beating," Wadekar added. "If some poor chap gets bowled people will look at him with suspicion and not credit the bowler! Restoring the credibility of the game is going to be a major challenge for them."
