BCCI should implement 85 percent of Lodha recommendations: Shastri

New Delhi, Nov 5 (IANS) Former India team director Ravi Shastri has said that Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should implement 80 to 85 percent of Justice R.M. Lodha Committee's recommendations that are related to administration, governance, finance and election process.

"80 to 85 percent of Lodha Committee recommendations should be implemented, but problems can arise over remaining 15 percent recommendations due to practicalities," Shastri was quoted as saying by India TV.

"Reforms in cricket are needed and 80 to 85 per cent recommendations of Lodha Committee should be implemented. In some cases, we should give 'danda' (be stern), it is needed," he added.

However, Shastri said, appointing only three instead of five national selectors from the five zones would be a wrong decision.

"If you want fair selections, in a big country like India, which has more players than the players combined in other cricket-playing countries, at least five national selectors representing five zones are needed, along with 10 talent scouts, two for each zone," Shastri said.

Similarly, Shastri questioned the Lodha committee's recommendation for a three-year 'cooling off' period for administrators with a fixed tenure of three years.

"If you want to appoint cricketers, then you need continuity. Appoint them for a minimum five-six years, then a three-year cooling off period, and they can be re-appointed for another six years."

"If an administrator is doing good work, why should he be removed after three years? Where is the guarantee that his successor would carry on the good work of his predecessor?," the 54-year-old said.

"Even now there can be a dialogue (between BCCI and Lodha committee)."

Shastri further asked: "If you think BCCI was that bad, how come we won three World Cups and we gave cricketers like Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar to the world?".

The former India skipper also spoke highly of Test captain Virat Kohli, who has hit a purple patch in the last couple of years.

"I am truly enamoured of Virat Kohli. India should be proud of him. Even M.S. Dhoni has said, time will come when Virat will have to lead India across all three formats of the game. Kohli has sheer consistency and is a great role model for youngsters."

"At the age of 28, Kohli has made 26 or 27 centuries in one-day, he has made 35 to 40 international hundreds. He has ten more years of cricket, and if he continues to play, without injury, then anything can happen. But we should not put pressure on him because Sachin Tendulkar has a marvellous record (100 centuries).

"You get men like Sachin once in a lifetime. Now that Kohli has 40 international hundreds, and he has ten years more to play, nobody knows what can happen," he added.

With calls of Kohli taking over the mantle of the limited overs side growing by the day, Shastri felt Dhoni still has a lot of cricket left in him.

"Now, Dhoni has a lot of cricket left in him, his fitness is also good. He was facing pressure as captain for the last 10-12 years, now the time has come for another player to take over his responsibility in the next 12 to 18 months," Shastri said.

Comparing Kohli with Dhoni, Shastri said: "Dhoni is cool, but Kohli is young, totally different from Dhoni, Kohli is instinctive, a very expressive lad, if he has disappointment or happiness you can notice it on the field in two minutes. If he plays a bad shot, his body language will show he is disappointed with himself. But he has matured a lot now."

"On the other hand, Dhoni knows Kohli is a deadly player and how to extract the maximum out of him. They are, in a sense, both 'alpha males' in a single dressing room. Yet they have tremendous respect for each other."

--IANS

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