Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has shut down the player management wing of his venture - Professional Management Group (PMG). It had been managing top India internationals Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant among others.
Gavaskar's decision to stop being involved in player management was taken to avoid the "Conflict of Interest" issue and allow him to continue working as commentator with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), according to "Mumbai Mirror" newspaper.
Notably, the BCCI had sent a circular to all those who were contracted to it demanding the need to not have two sources of income from the governing body. Gavaskar was thus forced to choose between his commentary contract and his role in his player management firm.
The 68-year-old batting legend was even reportedly told that selling the stakes of his company to a close family members might also not be enough to avoid being caught in the conflict of interest issue.
Players asked to look for new agents
As it turns out, Dhawan, Pant, Prithvi Shaw and Sarfraz Khan have been asked to look for new agents. A few of the said players, who did not want to be named, have confirmed the recent development, according to the report.
Gavaskar is still part of the BCCI commentary panel for the upcoming ODI series between India and Australia, starting September 17 in Chennai. However, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan was included as a standby by the governing body as it needed a backup option in case the former failed to meet the "conflict of interest" guidelines.
Guha-Gavaskar saga
Cricket historian Ramachandra Guha, who was part of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) to oversee the operations of the BCCI, took a dig at Gavaskar saying "BCCI-contracted commentators simultaneously act as player agents" after stepping down from the post.
"Sunil Gavaskar is head of a company which represents Indian cricketers while commenting on those cricketers as part of the BCCI TV commentary panel. This is a clear conflict of interest. Either he must step down/withdraw himself from PMG completely or stop being a commentator for BCCI," Guha had written in his resignation letter to the BCCI.
Gavaskar though hit back at Guha saying he was "baffled" to have his integrity questioned. The legendary cricketer went on to say: "Show me one instance where I have tried to influence the selection committee. I do not have a conflict of interest. It's baffling to find my integrity has been questioned."
