5 Times the Indian Cricket Board grabbed headlines for the wrong reasons

The Indian Cricket Board has improved leaps and bounds to become the biggest cricket board in the world. It now overshadows the might of all other cricket boards combined; such has been the incredible rise of the Indian Cricket Board.

While the positive work of the Indian Cricket Board is lauded by everyone all the time, the occurrence of some unwelcome and outright wrong decisions by the board can also not be denied.

Here is the list of five such instances when the Indian Cricket Board grabbed the headlines for the wrong reasons.

1. Jay Shah appointment as Indian Cricket Board Secretary

Jay Shah (Image source: Twitter)

Jay Shah became the secretary of the Indian Cricket Board in September 2019, after winning the election. Many however could not digest the sharp rise of the son of Amit Shah, India’s Home Minister and former president of the BJP.

The controversy was so big that even Prahlad Modi, PM Narendra Modi’s elder brother called out the decision. In an interview with BBC in February 2021, he said that Jay Shah does not have any qualifications and significant contribution in cricket to be handling such a big position.

As the next Telangana Legislative Assembly nears several leaders including Harish Rao, Health Minster of Telangana, have asked Modi to explain how the son of Amit Shah, became the secretary of the Indian Cricket Board despite not being a cricketer.

2. N Srinivas spot-fixing scandal

N Srinivasan Dhoni (Image source: Twitter)

The Indian T20 League is today the world’s second most lucrative league world; things however did not look as rosy at one point in time. In his three-year tenure as the Indian Cricket Board’s President, N Srinivasan was entangled in so many controversies that are tough to count on one hand.

The biggest however was the ethically inept decision to allow N Srinivasan to own the Chennai team along with being the president of the Indian Cricket Board. His alleged connections with bookies though son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was caught which resulted in the Chennai team being banned from the League.

He is still being investigated for multiple scams such as running Indian cricket solely through India Cements employees, removing key officials who were against him from key committees, and many others. N Srinivasan to this day remains a dark chapter for Indian Cricket.

3. Virat Kohli vs Indian Cricket Board

Virat Kohli (image source: Twitter)

Virat Kohli possibly the greatest Indian cricketer of the last decade was instrumental in taking the national team to new heights. The Delhi-born batter brought-in aggression to the Indian side that was previously meek.

The Indian Cricket Board however was marred in controversy after removing Kohli from T20Is as well as ODIs and replacing him with Rohit Sharma without communicating with the former captain. Kohli came out and addressed the controversy in public a few days later.

“When I communicated with the BCCI first about quitting the T20I captaincy, I told them that this is my point of view, these are the reasons for my decision. It was received quite well. No one took offence, no one had any hesitation. No one told me that I should not leave the T20I captaincy,” Kohli told the press.

Naturally, the Indian Cricket Board was slammed by all on social media for the disrespect to a generational player.

4. 2001 Match fixing

Mohammad Azharuddin Ajay Jadeja (Image source: Twitter)

One of the biggest controversies surrounding the Indian Cricket Board took place in 2001 when South Africa toured India. While tapping the calls of the underworld, Delhi police came across a conversation between bookies and South African captain Hansie Cronje and all hell broke loose.

Further investigations found that Mohammad Azharuddin has introduced bookies to Cronje and he also admitted to fixing games with Ajay Jadeja. Azhar was banned for life whereas Jadeja got a five-year ban.

Although the ban was later lifted, the fiasco certainly put a permanent dark stain on the credibility of the Indian Cricket Board.

5. Arun Jaitley Statue Controversy

Arun Jaitley Statue (Image source: Twitter)

While teams all over the world have statues of players outside their stadiums, for example, Manchester United’s Old Trafford has statues of Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and George Best, in India it is quite different.

Following the reveal of former Finance minister, Arun Jaitley’s statue at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium (now named Arun Jaitley Stadium), former Indian cricketer Bishan Singh Bedi wrote a scathing remark on the decision and said, “People who surround you presently will never inform you that it’s WG Grace at Lord’s..Sir Jack Hobbs at the Oval..Sir Donald Bradman at the SCG…Sir Garfield Sobers at Barbados & Shane Warne of recent vintage at the MCG…who adorn their cricket stadia with the Spirit of Cricket never out of place.”

Bedi slammed the DDCA and Indian Cricket Board and asked to remove his name from the spectator’s stand and also renounced his membership from DDCA.

‘Sporting arenas need sporting role models. The place of the administrators is in their glass cabins,” said Bedi as the Indian Cricket Board was again criticised by the fans for a wrong decision.

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