The Sunil Gavaskar and Sharad Pawar fiasco; the way it unfolded

L’affaire Sunil Gavaskar is a curious mix of miscommunication, misinterpretation and mismanagement. The question is not whether Gavaskar was promised Rs4 crore for associating with Indian Premier League (IPL), but its genesis. Who had promised him the amount? When was the promise made? Why that person is not owning up the ‘commitment’? Why the BCCI is seeking proof? The questions are aplenty.

Gavaskar himself has clarified that the promise was made by Sharad Pawar, the man who was BCCI president when the IPL was launched in 2008. Pawar has remained stoically silent since even as the BCCI upped the ante by abolishing the provision for a paid member in the governing council of the IPL. At the recent meeting of the working committee, ‘evidence’ apparently was produced but the BCCI stuck to its guns, stating that no further payment should be made.

“Why should anyone be paid in the first place?” asked a member. “The president or any office-bearer should not be allowed to make any commitment without consulting the committee,” he suggested. As for Gavaskar, the member said that since the AGM has rejected the proposal, the payment cannot be approved.
Gavaskar’s contention has been that the proposal was not his ‘demand’ but an ‘offer’ by the senior board officials. Sources say if he were to be aware of these intricacies, he may not have taken up the position at all.

When the proposal was first mooted, Gavaskar, surely, was not aware of these rules. The story goes like this. Lalit Modi, then chairman of the IPL, approached the former captain during the England-India series in 2007, asking him to come on board for Rs1 crore per annum. Gavaskar, it is understood, was non-committal.

Pawar, one learns, then called up Gavaskar in South Africa where he was covering the ICC World Twenty20 and asked him to come on board with a promise that his interest would be taken care of and he would not be disappointed with the offer.

Then Pawar and Modi had a brief chat after which the former told Gavaskar that he would be paid Rs4 crore for his association with the IPL. Pawar also informed Gavaskar that Modi would work out the logistics and mode of payment. This was a special grant for Gavaskar alone and Ravi Shastri and the late MAK Pataudi — the other two members of the GC — would not be entitled to this.

However, three years on, there has been no development. At the last year’s AGM, the general body came down heavily on the proposal, stating that no member should be paid in the first place, leave alone Rs4 crore for Gavaskar. Shastri has since been an unpaid member of the GC. Gavaskar declined the offer stating that his free services would be available for Indian cricket but not for a commercial venture like the IPL.

At the recent working committee meeting, the matter cropped up, primarily because Gavaskar had spoken to new board president N Srinivasan in Chennai recently. Gavaskar, in fact, had a one-on-one with the BCCI president, who said some kind of evidence be produced. At that point, Gavaskar called up Arun Jaitley, the president of the DDCA and a Member of Parliament, requesting him to check with Pawar. What transpired between Jaitley and Pawar is not known but the working committee was overwhelming in its rejection.

It is learnt that Pawar “admitted” to Jaitley about having made the commitment (in 2007) and the DDCA chief announced the same at the meeting. However, the issue was back to square one after a call was made to a former BCCI official.
Jaitley and Pawar remained unreachable and Gavaskar refused to pass further comment. The issue lingers on.