“Please ask Dhoni,” said Ganguly, when asked whether MS Dhoni will be a part of the T20 World Cup next year. In the media conference that held right after the Annual General Meeting of BCCI, Ganguly talked about domestic leagues, corruption, state infrastructure and Dhoni.
On Dhoni
Dhoni hasn’t been a part of the Indian team since the completion of the One Day International World Cup in July 2019. Recently in a private event, Dhoni has said not to ask him until January about his future. When the question about the possibility of MS Dhonis’ future in the team, Ganguly said, “Please ask Dhoni.” When the selectors whose turn is completed said that they have moved on, it will be interesting to see what Dhoni has to say in January 2020.
On corruption
Corruption and match-fixing cases were reported in both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu Premier Leagues this year. Abhimanyu Mithun, an international player and a veteran fast bowler from Karnataka is all set to be enquired with regards to the match-fixing scandal in KPL. When asked about the future of the leagues, Ganguly said that it is very hard to stop tournaments on the basis of who gets approached.
“Even in the Syed Mushtaq, I was told that one of the players was approached. Yes, we have dealt with it. We have spoken to the respective states. The Karnataka Premier League is on hold now, till all this gets cleared. There is one in Chennai, Saurashtra and Mumbai. For Saurashtra and Mumbai, there haven’t been any complaints, but in Chennai, there have been a couple of complaints, but we will deal with it,” said Ganguly.
Ganguly added that it is hard to stop a tournament just because players were approached. “What you rightly said in some of the states it has gone to the next level. We are dealing with it and have to get the anti-corruption system right. And we will deal with it. The states have brought to our notice, we need to get anti-corruption right, nobody wants this, it doesn’t help anyone. And we will put a system.”
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On State infrastructure
Although he did not declare how much, Ganguly did acknowledge that the income of the BCCI has increased and they have decided to share it with the state associations by increasing the subsidy from Rs 70 Crores to Rs 100 Crores. “Gujarat has built such a huge stadium, Himachal has such fantastic facilities, Chennai’s new stands are back on track. They have got clearances,” said Ganguly.
He added that they are building the new National Cricket Academy. “The nine new states need infrastructure, they have to buy grounds, they have to build infrastructure. So we will not just give money in one go, we will departmentalise it and BCCI will monitor the progress. We will form a committee headed by three of us (Ganguly, Arun Dhumal, Jay Shah),” Ganguly added.
On amendments from AGM
When asked about the amendments that are to be put forth to the Supreme Court Ganguly said that it is for the court to decide. “Just as every citizen has got the rights, we have requested if certain changes could be done to get the administration work better. It’s a prayer, a certain clarification is required,” he concluded.
As quoted by Sportstar, Sourav Ganguly has told them, “There hasn’t been any word on relaxing the age-cap either. We leave it to the court to decide.”
