Sunil Gavaskar, BCCI not headed for break-up

Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are not parting ways despite sparring in public. Sources in the BCCI confirmed that a split was not imminent.

Gavaskar will continue to be a member of the BCCI’s commentary panel. It means he will be doing commentary for the India-New Zealand series that starts in Ahmedabad on Thursday.

There are no indications of the board dropping him from the panel. Gavaskar, along with fellow panelist Ravi Shastri, gets paid up to Rs3 crore per year.

The BCCI had a good opportunity to cancel his commentary contract recently when it scrapped some of the contracts of World Sports Group following investigations into the affairs of the Indian Premier League. The two former India captains, being non-resident Indians, were being represented by WSG.

DNA has learnt that the board has been contemplating having a direct deal with Gavaskar and Shastri instead of dealing with them through an agency. “I understand they wanted the contract to be routed through WSG.    

But following the recent developments, the board decided to have a direct deal with them. A final decision has not been taken yet,” said a source in the board.

“We have to sign a contract with them. I think we will do it soon,” said a senior board official, clearly hinting that Gavaskar will continue to be on the panel. On his part, Gavaskar has also not given any indication of quitting as the BCCI’s technical committee chairman, an honorary job.

Meanwhile, Gavaskar has found support from Lalit Modi, who said the former India captain had always been forthright in his dealings and was never known to be a liar. “A lot has been said about Sunny. All I can tell you is that in all my dealings with Sunny, I’ve never known him to be a liar or anything. Sunny has been forthright. I’m sure they’ll sort it out,” Modi said in London.

Meanwhile, Gavaskar said he was waiting for Sharad Pawar to arrange a meeting with the current BCCI president to help resolve this ‘demanding’ matter, “since it was he who made the offer for the extra payment over and above the original amount given to the former players on the Governing Council and on whose word I agreed to come on board.”