DIFFERENCE OF OPINION

BCCI, CoA spar over speaker for Pataudi lecture

by Gaurav Gupta • Published on

The administrators at the CoA and BCCI continue to differ over key matters. © AFP

The BCCI office-bearers and the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) continue to differ on key matters. This time, the issue is over the speaker for the prestigious MAK Pataudi Memorial Lecture.

In a novel move, the CoA has decided on former Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara to speak at the lecture, which is delivered on the night of the BCCI's annual awards, but the decision isn't cutting ice with acting BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary, who feels that former Indian cricketers who played alongside the man famously called 'Tiger Pataudi' would be more apt for the occasion.

Choudhary has proposed that one of Pataudi's teammates, Nari Contractor, Chandu Borde, Erapalli Prasanna and Abbas Ali Baig should be invited as the speaker. In an e-mail (a copy is with TOI) to CoA chief Vinod Rai, Choudhary has asked the committee to reconsider the decision and said that he is unable to agree to the proposal of the committee unless the ones named by him "are disqualified for other reasons."

He concludes his e-mail by saying that "as in the past on any occasions, if overruled, he will have no option but to go with the decision of the COA." In his e-mail on Saturday, Amitabh wrote: "When the matter was discussed with me at Bangalore a couple of days ago I had suggested we also look for probable speakers among distinguished cricketers of yesteryears such as Nari Contractor, Chandu Borde, Erapalli Prasanna and Abbas Ali Baig. These cricketers have even the distinction of having played alongside Tiger Pataudi and if any of them agrees, it could provide the much needed perspective on how cricket has evolved from those years of challenge.

Nari was the captain of the touring Indian team to West Indies when he was struck by a bouncer and the brave man faced it all. This had resulted in Tiger taking over as the youngest ever Test captain having to lead a team of stalwarts such as Manjrekar, Borde, Nadkarni, Jaishima and Umrigar."

© TNN

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