UNCERTAINTY LOOMS OVER NEW ZEALAND'S MATCHES IN DELHI

As DDCA comes to a standstill, question is: Who will organise two games?

By Qaiser Mohammad Ali, Outlookindia.com

Delhi's Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium, where New Zealand cricket team's two
matches, including a One-day International, are scheduled to be played,
in September and October, 2016. Photo: Qaiser Mohammad Ali

New Delhi: The New Zealand team is scheduled to open its India tour next month with a match in Delhi, but there is a huge uncertainty as to who will organise that game — the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) or BCCI/Lodha Committee —  and also an ODI in October. No preparation for the matches has begun as yet.

The matter has been compounded as a top DDCA office-bearer has warned his colleagues against taking any “policy decisions” as that would be “illegal and declared null and void” in the wake of the Supreme Court judgement on Lodha Committee recommendations for reforms.

The Lodha Committee, which the Supreme Court has authorised to implement its own recommendations in the BCCI and its affiliated units, has announced that its role started on July 18, when the apex court delivered the judgement. Therefore, say experts, the BCCI/DDCA cannot organise international matches without taking the Lodha Committee into confidence.

New Zealand is scheduled to play a three-day warm-up match from September 16-18 and a One-day International on October 19 at the Ferozeshah Kotla.

DDCA’s other perennial problem is that its officials are constantly at loggerheads with each other in a battle of attrition, often changing sides, and pulling down their rivals.

This is starkly evident from DDCA vice-president Chetan Chauhan’s warning to his colleagues against taking policy decisions and DDCA general secretary Anil Khanna convening an emergent executive committee meeting on Tuesday to discuss the organisation of New Zealand matches.

Chauhan, whose designation also keeps changing between ‘working president’ and ‘vice-president’, recently wrote to Anil Khanna, saying that since several DDCA office-bearers have completed nine years in power – the maximum period permitted by the Lodha Committee — they all stand disqualified.

“As you are aware, a judgement has been passed by the Supreme Court listing various directions on the continuance of the office-bearers of the association,” Chauhan said in his letter that was copied to all DDCA directors.

“The undersigned along with many office-bearers have completed more than three terms (9 years) and the judgement of the Supreme Court is to be implemented. After the judgement, we are only ‘caretakers’ of the association and we may have to vacate the office any time. Please do not take any decisions regarding policy matters as it will be illegal and declared null and void,” warns Chauhan in the signed one-page letter.

However, Chauhan’s letter seems to have made little impact as the meeting is on. The two-point agenda is to discuss the New Zealand matches and also the scathing Mukul Mudgal Report on the DDCA’s mismanagement that he has submitted with the Delhi High Court.

It remains to be seen if Chauhan himself attends the meeting or takes a principled stand, based on what he has said in his letter, and boycotts the meeting. It will also be interesting to see how many other DDCA directors (executive committee members) support Chauhan.

Mudgal, a former Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court who was appointed by the Delhi High Court to supervise international/IPL matches at the Kotla, discovered many grave shortcomings in the way the DDCA has been organising matches. After overseeing the fourth India-South Africa Test in December, the ICC World Twenty20 and the IPL this year, he submitted a stinging report.

That case, between the DDCA and South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) is coming for hearing in the court on August 22. At the last hearing, the court had sought a reply from the BCCI reply on the scathing Mudgal Report on the DDCA mismanagement.

Sources said that some DDCA officials are now planning to take back the case so that they themselves could organise the two New Zealand matches.

“A certain section of the DDCA office-bearers wants to now take back case because they don’t want the Delhi High Court to supervise both matches against New Zealand. Some disgruntled elements in the DDCA have not been able to have their way or say in organising last several matches, thanks to Mudgal’s tightening of screws. If the case drags on, the court might again appoint an observer to conduct the match that would further annoy the disgruntled elements,” the source told Outlook.

“On the other hand, the DDCA and the BCCI officials have discussed, over several meetings, the possibility of an independent committee organising matches at the Kotla, following the Supreme Court judgement, especially as Lodha Committee is now effectively in control,” he informed. “Don’t be surprised if the BCCI and the Lodha Committee jointly constitute a committee to organise both Delhi matches.”

Meanwhile, former India cricketer Kirti Azad has joined issues with Khanna over the convening of the executive committee meeting. The former Delhi captain, who led the state team to Ranji Trophy title in 1991-92, has alleged “fabrication of minutes by some DDCA office-bearers” and “fraudulently prepared balance sheets” of the last three financial years in a letter addressed to Anil Khanna. Azad wants the executive to discuss those points too at Tuesday’s meeting.