N. Srinivasan and MS Dhoni allegedly involved in L. Sivaramakrishnan's appointment as ICC players' representative

MS Dhoni

BCCI president N. Srinivasan had mildly threatened the President of ICC, Alan Isaac, in a letter dated May 8, 2013, for the lack of support from the ICC in the row over selection of Laxman Sivaramakrishnan as a players’ representative to the ICC Cricket Committee.

Sivaramakrishnan, former Indian leg-spinner hailing from the BCCI president’s state Tamil Nadu, was selected at the expense of Federation of International Cricketers Association head Tim May.

“I do not really mind if ICC management wishes to remain silent if they are sympathetic to the FICA media campaign,” Srinivasan wrote.

“However, we’ll truly treat this as a defining moment in the relationship we have with ICC management. We’re not going to let this blatantly unfair attack of FICA with ICC a silent spectator go without a response in into the vote”

May had also claimed that captains from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe had been told to choose Sivaramakrishnan in a re-vote that was announced. It has been alleged that the BCCI has been using its financial prowess to influence the decisions of boards to vote in its way.

Another email exchange between an irked Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni and Geoff Allardice of reads,

“It’s L. Shivaramakrishnan (sic) but how is it that from the previous mail Sanga’s (Sri Lankan cricketer Kumar Sangakkara, another contender for the job) name gets picked but Shiva’s doesn’t.”

As it is known that MS Dhoni is close to Srinivasan, it can be speculated that the decorated captain may just be following orders.

Further instances where Srinivasan shows apparent disrespect for the protocol of his own organization are available. It even went to an extent that the BCCI had to put India’s participation in the Champions Trophy 2013 on hold to get it done their way.

In a letter dated back to April 15, IMG’s Peter Griffiths, an organization which helps run the IPL, wrote to the BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale for the appointment of a commission to address a complaint under the IPL 2013 operational rules. According to the rules, it is mandatory for the BCCI secretary to pick up members.

Five days later, Griffiths received an email from Kavi Vishwanathan, the secretary of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, which read:

“I am reproducing the message written by the President to you: ‘Sanjay, Rajiv Shukla, Ajay Shirke and Ravi Shastri may hear the complaint. N Srinivasan’.”

Both Jagdale and Shirke quit on the 31st of May, protesting the handling of the scandal by the board; however, now Jagdale has said that he had “no problem” with the way the BCCI was run.