CHENNAI: The BCCI on Wednesday accepted the resignation of its cricket operations general manager MV Sridhar, a week after he submitted the letter. The development comes after the BCCI CEO Rahul Johri wrote twice to Sridhar to explain his involvement in Hyderabad cricket. Sridhar is involved with five clubs in Hyderabad, which amounts to conflict of interest.
Sridhar, who has been in the position since 2013, was in charge of the scheduling of the Indian teams — men, women, India A and U-19 — apart from handling operations in the domestic circuit. The former Hyderabad batsman has also been to International Cricket Council meetings as a BCCI representative and was overseeing operations at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. His job included taking care of the Indian team’s needs.
He was mostly seen as the connecting figure between the BCCI and the players and in July after Anil Kumble stepped down as coach, he accompanied Virat Kohli & Co to the Caribbean as a supervisor. Sridhar was also the director of World T20, when India hosted the event in 2016.
After Sridhar sent his resignation a week back, accepting it was a matter of time considering the BCCI’s recent drive against cases of conflict of interest. When officials asked Sridhar to explain his position, he did not reply. Apart from being involved with Vijaynagar CC, Safilguda CC, Consult Colts CC, Nataraj CC and Satyam Colts CC in the Hyderabad Cricket Association league, Sridhar had also not disclosed to the BCCI and the Committee of Administrators that his name features in a charge sheet filed by the anti-corruption bureau of the Telangana government for alleged misappropriation of funds in 2014.
The BCCI, however, didn’t mention any of this in a statement issued by its acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary, and only stated that Sridhar would step aside by September 30.
What is not clear at the moment is whether Sridhar stepped aside on his own or he was asked to resign, as he had failed to reply twice to Johri’s letters. Sources in the BCCI revealed there was pressure on him from certain quarters, but nobody asked him to resign.
“The BCCI only asked him to explain his position regarding operations of the five the clubs that he apparently runs in Hyderabad and there were also murmurs that he was being paid by the HCA while being an employee of the board. But he chose to hand in his resignation,” an official told Express.
venkatakrishna@newindianexpress.com