The Committee of Administrators chief Vinod Rai on Monday said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India elections will be held in next 90 days now that the Constitution has been adopted.
‘’BCCI elections will happen in 90 days and that’s the deadline we have given ourselves. The moment the new body takes over, the COA will leave. We would do exactly what Justice Vikramjit Sen did (handover reins to DDCA’s elected body),” Rai told mediapersons.
Rai’’s announcement effectively means that BCCI AGM-cum-elections will be held in the last week of November. “We have tried to ensure total transparency in the functioning and decision making process of the BCCI,” Rai said.
However, the CoA chief said that he wouldn’t like to comment on whether the total tenure is nine or 18 years. “There are queries in Supreme Court and although I have an interpretation but I will not comment on it,” Rai said.
Most of the questions regarding interpretation of new Constitution was met with a dead bat. During the 40 minute interaction, he defended each and every decision taken by the CoA, including the unceremonious exit of former coach Anil Kumble, which he termed as an “incorrect way”. “Anil Kumble was appointed for one year and then we started a fresh process. The Cricket Advisory Committee was part of the process,” Rai said, defending the unsavoury incidents that led to current coach Ravi Shastri’s appointment.
When asked about practical difficulties faced by new states with regards to implementation, Rai said: “Let them first adopt the new Constitution and get the compliance. The practical problems that they have regarding qualification of selectors and all can then be addressed.”
Rai termed one of his big achievements as getting a pay hike for international as well as domestic cricketers. Earlier in some states player’s payments were routed through states and that has been changed now. “Now players can raise invoice and payments would be directly credited to their accounts,” Rai said.