BCCI Raps Tendulkar, Ganguly & Laxman For World Cup Commentary; Asks Them To Pick Between BCCI And IPL Roles

Ethics officer D K Jain of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today (21 June) questioned the roles of former Indian cricketers such as Sachin Tenduklar, Sourav Ganguly and V V S Laxman as commentators in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 according to reports in NDTV.

Moreover, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman are presently holding twin jobs of being Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) members and mentors with IPL franchises. This, according to Jain, amounts to conflict of interest and the two former players will have to choose between the two. Also, he has asserted that players who haven't retired from competitive cricket cannot take up the role of being experts on television.

The role of Harbhajan Singh and Parthiv Patel in commentating during matches has also been under discussion, since the two have also been playing during IPL.

Laxman is at present mentor for SunRisers Hyderabad, Ganguly was hired to be an advisor to the Delhi Daredevils franchise and he is also President of Cricket Association of Bengal.

Jain told PTI, "One person one post is the soul of Lodha committee recommendations. I have just tried to bring it out. In Sachin's (Tendulkar), the conflict of interest did not arise as he had withdrawn from CAC. But it does in Ganguly and Laxman's case and they need to decide how they would like to serve Indian cricket going forward."

Tenduklar, Ganguly and Laxman have contested the allegation of conflict of interest, with Laxman even offering to step down from the CAC during his deposition.