When cricket comes under State oversight

The National Sports Governance Bill will bring welcome changes, placing cricket’s most powerful federation under the RTI Act and setting new age/tenure caps.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will likely come under the purview of the National Sports Governance Bill, something that most people involved in managing India’s most popular sport knew was inevitable once cricket became part of the Olympic movement. If this happens — and BCCI has time and again shown the ability to steer its own course — BCCI, which has long fought to stay autonomous, will come under government oversight, affecting its elections, office-bearer eligibility, and legal jurisdiction. It will also bring world cricket’s most powerful federation under the RTI Act and set new age/tenure caps. All of these are welcome changes .

The BCCI will remain an autonomous body like all other National Sports Federations. But disputes, if any, will come to the proposed National Sports Tribunal, which will become the dispute resolution body for sports matters. (PTI)

But there is the unanswered question of how this will impact the workings of the world’s richest cricket body, which unlike all the other National Sports Federations (NSFs) in the country, doesn’t depend on government grants. Sure, BCCI will remain an autonomous body like all other NSFs but disputes, if any, will also come to the proposed National Sports Tribunal, which will become the dispute resolution body for sports matters ranging from elections to selection. Selection, for example, is always a subjective issue. In the past, people had no option but to buckle down and do better. Now, some might choose to go to the tribunal.

Will government oversight interfere with the processes that have allowed the BCCI to dominate world cricket? Sporting federations have often been at loggerheads with the government and while the law is expected to help streamline things, it remains to be seen how the right balance between autonomy of BCCI and State oversight can be achieved.