Indian cricket has been ruled by a single name for quite sometime now. N Srinivasan is a name everyone following cricket knows. He used to be cricket kingdom’s undisputed ruler, conquering foreign boards and perching prettily on top of the pyramid of one of the highest earning sports in the world. Used to be the media’s favourite too — for he would provide fodder for them to survive. He used to be an aspiring cricketer’s God. He could make or break.
Do you note the past tense I have used?
That’s because perhaps finally, N Srinivasan has become cricket’s past. This man from Chennai has been in the cricketing ‘industry’ for a long time, scaling heights that no one had seen before. He was like a mountain that was unmovable. No amount of controversies managed to pull that chair away from him and his increasing confidence in himself meant he wouldn’t budge either.
All that has changed. Changed for the better, or for something else, that no one can comment on, but that has definitely.
Whoever thought Srinivasan would evade any sort of pulling up despite all the apparent laws and rules that he’s managed to bend and break, they can start thinking of hibernating now. Srinivasan has been dethroned and how. First, the BCCI threw him out of its own fold. Yet, the world governing body — the International Cricket Council — continued to salute him as its Chairman. He will now be duly replaced by BCCI President Shashank Manohar.
Ever since the Justice Mudgal panel came into place, the Swachh Cricket Abhiyaan took off. Things began falling into place as one by one, the accused started getting their verdicts loud and clear. It was all going fine till Srinivasan got a clean chit. We weren’t the least bit surprised, but we were disappointed.
However, all that has changed. N Srinivasan has been delivered his due. For long, his conflict of interests grew like a cancer inside the sport, threatening to suffocate it into a premature death, but his ouster has just helped cricket breathe free.
This should definitely work as an example for football as well, which is treading similar path. If corruption has to be beaten, there’s no point starting from the grassroots. Identify the biggest threat and nip it in the bud.