BCCI mum on charity match

Faisal Shariff

"We just want to help the quake victims," says C K Khanna, vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and senior functionary of the Delhi District Cricket Association. "It is our humble effort towards the tragedy."

Khanna is referring to a proposal he had submitted to the BCCI, to hold a charity one-day match during Australia's upcoming tour of India, proceeds of which would go to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund.

But why, we ask, can't the BCCI simply donate a percentage of the profits it will make on the tour, instead of trying to fit yet another match into an already over-crowded schedule?

"I am sorry but I cannot comment on this," Khanna says. "Please don’t ask me these questions; I have nothing to say."

And having said that, he hung up.

Interesting. As long as you lob soft questions and give officials a chance to come up with platitudes, they will talk for hours. Let them get a whiff of a hard question, though, and the speed with which they terminate the conversation makes you dizzy.

Having finished with Khanna, we turned for further information to the honorary secretary of the BCCI.

"I can't reveal anything at this stage," said Jaywant Lele. "We are discussing it. A proposal has come up, but we are not going to say anything about it now. When we are ready, we will make an announcement."

More of that later, but for now, the news is that the Baroda Cricket Association has, on its own initiative, announced a donation of Rs 1,11,111 for the quake relief fund.

For his part, BCCI vice-president Kamal Morarka said, "We will definitely do something for the quake victims. But why is it that you are asking us? After all, there are 31 sports bodies in the country," he argued.

But the BCCI is the richest sports body in the country; in fact, one of the richest sports bodies in the world, we pointed out, so it is only natural for the board to show the way.

"Paise hi dene hai, na? De denge," was the response. (It’s only about giving money. We will give it).

Board president Dr A C Muthiah was not available for comment.

The Australian Cricket Board, meanwhile, has ruled out chances of a charity match. It said it would find another alternative which could "genuinely assist" the affected people.

Mail your comments