In fact, the policy was not even compromised when Azhar got a clean chit from Andhra High Court in 2012.
The Indian Cricket Board under the new leader Anurag Thakur has mastered the art of getting in the news for all the wrong reasons. First, it was for disobeying the diktat of Supreme Court-appointed Justice RM Lodha committee and now for rehabilitating former skipper Mohammad Azharuddin in the mainstream.
Ever since Azhar's name figured in the 2000 match-fixing scam along with Hansie Cronje of South Africa, BCCI had maintained a consistent policy under its many presidents – from AC Muthiah to Jagmohan Dalmiya to Sharad Pawar to N Srinivasan till Shashank Manohar – that no India player with a 'fixing' taint would be allowed to enter the stadiums around India.
In fact, the policy was not even compromised when Azhar got a clean chit from Andhra High Court in 2012.
But in the name of celebrating India's 500th Test on day-one of the Kanpur first Test against New Zealand here at the Green Park stadium, BCCI hand-picked some of the former Indian captains for special honour.
The finger has certainly not been raised about honouring our greats on this special occasion. But the debate only started when Thakur and company forgot to even call legendary spinner Bishan Singh Bedi or stylish batman Gundappa Viswanath along with host of other former skippers for the event.
And then what was witnessed at Green Park was another story. Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar was not even seen talking to his former captain during the course of those few minutes when the ceremony was taking place. The men who shared some of the most wonderful partnerships in Test cricket were like aliens to each other!
But the most curious case was that of Ravi Shastri, who was shown as a 'lecherous' character in the Azhar movie and was also shown coming out of a hotel room pulling up his zip, while a starlet follows him adjusting her saree.
Imagine, how the two former captains would have greeted each other on the occasion?
There is certainly no issue about honouring the former captains, but the manner of doing so for a select 'special ones' as per the whims and fancies of the Board's top brass.
It's high time now that BCCI should clear the air on the status of all those former players who have been castigated for their alleged involvement in match-fixing scandal.
Has this present BCCI regime forgotten how Delhi & District Association (DDCA) in 2015 (a year back) was made to apologise when its vice-president Chetan Chauhan allowed Azhar into the Ferozeshah Kotla premises during a Ranji Trophy game against Vidharbha. The BCCI that time said that "since it has not yet lifted the life ban on Azharuddin so he cannot enter any of its stadium".
Does the rehabilitation of Azhar means that likes of Ajay Sharma, Manoj Prabhakar, Ajay Jadeja or former physio Ali Irani are all eligible to play their second innings in the Board?
Or for that matter what is the status of speedster S Sreesanth, who was banned for life for his part in the Indian Premier League spot-fixing scandal in 2013?
In the last 16 years since the fixing, the new regime of BCCI, for that matter, has opened a Pandora's Box of problems for the future administrators. With Justice Lodha panel recommendations set to push all the present day administrators into the wilderness soon (by December 15), the hastily taken decisions by Thakur and Co. will have long-lasting effects for the next generation of administrators.
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 "Cricket, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Mohammad Azharuddin, Anurag Thakur, Ajay Jadeja, Ajay Sharma, Bishan Sing")
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