No name is bigger than the game: Former BCCI president Thakur

Former India cricket board (BCCI) president Anurag Thakur has called for making public the names of all the 13 individuals alleged to have been involved in the 2013 spot-fixing scandal. The names were submitted to the Supreme Court in a sealed envelope by the Justice Mukul Mudgal committee in Feb 2014.

Thakur, who was removed as BCCI president by the Supreme Court in January this year, argued that had the BCCI been more pro-active in punishing guilty cricketers and administrators involved in spot-fixing, the board wouldn't have found itself in the 'mess' it is now in.

"For me, individuals are not important. The institution is important. I am not bothered about any 'A' or 'B' player. I am only concerned about BCCI as an institution. The envelope containing the name of the cricketers was never opened by the Court, which means the issue from where the entire episode started wasn't resolved. But other issues against the BCCI were opened," Thakur told TOI in an interview. "If anyone is involved in match-fixing or unethical practice, there must be a harsher punishment because no name is bigger than the game."

Thakur added, "Certain A, B or C players are roaming free after so many years. They are sitting in TV studios. The same TV channels and newspapers which wrote against them on fixing and betting, they have called them cricket experts. So, there has to be some law and harsher punishment for such individuals and activities."

The BJP parliamentarian from Hamirpur is ready with his ambitious 'National Sports Ethics Commission Bill', which he soon plans to introduce in the Lok Sabha as a private member's bill. "I am approaching Parliament with this bill. The bill aims to curb the menace of match-fixing, age fraud and sexual harassment in sports. It could be introduced in the winter or the budget session. The moment it is introduced, the debate will start. Betting, however, is not a part of it," he said.

The bill includes a provision for a 10-year jail term for match-fixing, apart from the imposition of life ban in certain cases. It also talks about imposing heavy financial penalty on corrupt players and officials and proposes a six-year jail term and a fine of Rs 1 lakh for age fraud.

Thakur felt that had the bill been in place, tainted cricketers S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan, who were arrested and later released on bail for their alleged involvement in the spot-fixing scandal, wouldn't have got off scot-free. On the deadlock between the Committee of Administrators (CoA) and the current BCCI dispensation over Lodha reforms, Thakur felt that he and Shirke were made the scapegoats since "nothing has changed in the board in the last 13 months".

"If you look back at Oct 1, 2016, BCCI had accepted more than 90 per cent of reforms. For the rest, we went back to the SC. Has anything has changed since then? It's been more than 13 months but we have made no headway. The only thing which has changed is that BCCI has lost its position globally. BCCI has lost crores in revenue," he said.

(TNN)