The not entirely unexpected resignation of Indian Premier League commissioner Rajeev Shukla here on Saturday in the wake of the spreading IPL scandal has all but set the stage for the exit of beleaguered cricket control board president N. Srinivasan.
With the emergency meeting of the BCCI’s working committee scheduled in Chennai on Sunday, the embattled Mr Srinivasan now appears to have run out of options. Virtually forced to call the meeting and then forced to advance it, the board president has his back to the wall with BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale and treasurer Ajay Shirke quitting in disgust on Friday, and Mr Shukla now doing the same less than 24 hours later.
In a twist redolent with irony, Mr Srinivasan’s near-complete control over the cricket board may well come to an end in his own stronghold. With the odds piling up against him, Mr Srinivasan was fighting to save something from the train-wreck that the fallout of the IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal has become. He was reported to have placed conditions to stepping aside — including a return as BCCI president if charges against him were proven to be unfounded — but that may no longer be possible, so badly has he alienated all but his closest supporters. Mr Srinivasan may, however, be allowed — as he has asked — to represent the BCCI at ICC meetings as a concession. His third condition is said to be that Mr Sanjay Jagdale and Mr Ajay Shirke should not be in the new panel as punishment for turning their backs on him.
“I have decided to quit as IPL chairman. It is time to step down,” Mr Shukla said here on Saturday evening. “Sanjay Jagdale and Ajay Shirke resigned in the best interest of Indian cricket. I thought this is the right time,” he said. “I have never hankered for any position in the BCCI