Former India captain Anil Kumble has echoed BCCI president Sourav Ganguly's sentiment that there is a genuine need to revisit the conflict of interest clause in the newly adopted BCCI consitution.
Kumble told CricketNext that currently, the provisions are restricting a former cricketer's ability to contribute for the betterment of Indian cricket.
Besides Ganguly himself, the previous regime under supreme court-appointed Committee of Administrators had notices sent to several other former cricketers of repute like VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid following complaints of potential conflict of interest at the behest of BCCI ethics officer.
As per Rule 38 (4) of the new BCCI constitution, 16 roles have been identified wherein "no individual may occupy more than one post".
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However, Kumble said: "I'm of the firm belief that you need to look at the conflict of interest clauses because as it stands, you can't have any cricketer come in and do anything."
"It's very difficult. I think the other thing also is the education around the conflict of interest clause. That's something that Sourav and his team will be looking at."
"Yes, one is to look at the clauses and try and re-jig, to have a better sense of what's applicable in the corporate world, the same to be applicable in the cricketing world," he added.
"The other thing is the awareness around conflict of interest in cricket. I think that's somewhere where there's a lot of misrepresentation, about how it's all being dealt with and that's something that needs to be cleared as well."
Kumble also said it would be "ideal" if Ganguly remains at the helm of affairs for even more than the ten months he is to officially spend there before approaching a cooling-off period as per the board's consitution.
"It's wonderful news for all of us cricketers to see another cricketer become the BCCI chief. We've seen the capabilities of Sourav at managing people, as a player, as an administrator for CAB and now the BCCI. So, he has it in him to manage that responsibility really well."
"I think the challenge would be the time that he has, I hope he gets more time than the 10 months. If he can manage to get a full term, that'll be ideal for Indian cricket. He has all that takes to be BCCI's president and I'm really happy for him," Kumble added.
“I'm hopeful that in his tenure, we'll see some wonderful initiatives. He's already spoken about making sure that the focus is on domestic cricket, and that's something I'm sure Dada will be looking into. He’s certainly looked at all the key issues. He knows it, he's been a player of repute for a long period of time."
"He's been in the administration. So, yes, BCCI had a tough time over the last 3 years. So, I'm really glad that someone like a Sourav has come in at the right time."
With Ganguly having spent his last three years at the presidential post for Cricket Association of Bengal, Kumble feels that experience will certainly come in "handy".
"Having an administrative responsibility and the experience of running an association, for 3-5 years, I think certainly will come in handy."
"Playing is totally different to running an association. The challenges are very different, you need to be hands-on and Sourav has done that with Bengal cricket," he added.
"So, it won't be any different. Of course, it's not the same as day-to-day operations that you carry out with State associations."
"BCCI has a much larger role, it's not just about managing Indian cricket but also managing World cricket in terms of the responsibility that BCCI has with ICC."
"So, that's something I'm sure Sourav would want to emphasise, the relationship between BCCI and ICC, something that would be on the top of his list," Kumble concluded.
(Inputs from CricketNext)
