Lodha reforms: MPCA prefers politicians

Subhash Rajta

Tribune News Service

Indore, September 24

Like most other BCCI state units, Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA), too, is opposed to the Lodha Committee reforms. Although the top MPCA officials — chairman Jyotiraditya Scandia, president Sanjay Jagdale and a few vice-presidents — quit after they were found ineligible on one count or the other, the association is still fighting a legal battle to stall the reforms. 

“It all depends on the Supreme Court verdict,” said MPCA member Rajiv Risodkar. “We’ve decided not to hold elections until the final Supreme Court verdict, so the association is currently being run by secretary Milind Kanmadikar and a few other officials who are eligible to continue.” Risodkar claimed that MPCA was among the best run and most transparent associations in the country. “We make our balance sheet public every year, anyone can have a look at it,” he said. As for the contentious issue of inducting first class cricketers as members, he said the association inducts five new members every year, out of which two come through a player/umpire quota. 

“Almost all players who apply for membership after three years of their retirement are inducted, it’s no issue here, except for maybe a couple of cases,” he said. “But yes, we need a politician to head the association, there are so many pulls and pressures, it’s very tough to host a match without a political heavyweight leading the association.” 

Name game: MPCA plays it well

The Holkar Stadium in Indore is perhaps the only stadium where every stand and gate has been named after a former player. To the credit of MPCA, it didn’t let parochialism and gender bias influence the choice of players for the honour. Besides the local greats like Col CK Naidu and Mushtaq Ali and a few others, the greats from the other parts of the country, namely Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar, too have stands named after them. The dressing rooms, though, have been named after two players having a local connection – MAK Pataudi and Rahul Dravid. Pataudi was born in Bhopal, Dravid in Indore. Outside the stadium, a huge gate has been named after Sandhya Agarwal, the former captain of the Indian women’s cricket team. Sandhya is perhaps the only Indian woman cricketer to have either a stand or a gate named after her. And mind you, this was done some 10 years back when women’s cricket and cricketers didn’t get much attention. Besides, the press box is named after noted journalist Prabhash Joshi and commentary box after commentator Sushil Doshi. Someone was really thinking!

Lucknow stadium not fit, Kanpur gets third ODI vs New Zealand 

• Kanpur will host the third ODI between India and New Zealand next month since the stadium in Lucknow is not up to the mark for an international match. The match, to be held on October 29, was allotted to Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) and efforts were made to have the match at Ekana International Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, which recently hosted Duleep Trophy matches. A lot of infrastructure related work such as the elevators and outside fence is yet to complete. "It is not up to the mark. The ICC has not given clearance for hosting the match, so Kanpur will host the match," BCCI CEO Rahul Johri said. The series will begin in Mumbai on October 22. The second match will be played in Pune on October 25. — PTI