N Srinivasan's daughter to become TNCA's first woman president

It’s raining family control over state cricket associations in India with Rupa Gurunath, daughter of former Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) president N Srinivasan, being the torchbearer.

Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) is all set to get its first woman president in Rupa Gurunath as discussed during its AGM on September 26.

Srinivasan will maintain his stronghold over the BCCI affiliated unit as Rupa is highly unlikely to face any opposition with the last date for filing nomination being September 24.

The decision was taken during TNCA’s executive committee meeting held in Chennai on Sunday (September 22), sources told PTI.

The other candidates in line for various posts: RS Ramaswamy: Vice-President, KA Shankar: Joint Secretary, J Parthasarathy: Treasurer, N Venkataraman: Assistant Treasurer.

With Rupa being in fray for the position, the state’s cricket association will remain under the control of the Srinivasan empire, as it has been the case for the most part in the last two decades.

Rupa’s husband Gurunath Meiyappan is facing a life ban by the BCCI for being involved in betting during the 2013 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The tainted former Team Principal along with the team of Chennai Super Kings rocked the season by getting caught in a spot-fixing scandal. Meiyappan was in fact arrested by the Mumbai police in the midst of IPL.

Also read: TNCA is misinterpreting SC order for polls: CoA files petition

Maintaining the legacy

On Saturday (September 21), another family from Rajkot maintained their control over a state’s cricket board. Former BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah’s son Jaydev took over as the president of Saurashtra Cricket Association.

Jaydev retired after 16 years of first-class cricket, the better part of which he captained India players like Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja and Jaydev Unadkat.

Meanwhile, Arun Thakur, younger brother of former BCCI president Anurag Thakur, took charge as the president of Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association from September 27.

As per the Supreme Court directive, the TNCA elections need to be completed before the September 28 deadline which forced the association to rush the proceedings.

The Supreme Court on Friday (September 20) allowed the TNCA to hold elections to elect office-bearers but said the results will be subject to its decision.

A bench comprising Justices SA Bobde and L Nageswara Rao said the state cricket associations can go ahead with the elections but will not declare the results. It will be subject to the order of this court and legal remedies will be available to parties.

The Committee of Administrators had set October 22 as the date for the BCCI AGM and elections and set September 28 as the deadline for the state units to conduct their elections.

The CoA filed a 20-page petition in the Supreme Court seeking clarification as they feel that the apex court’s September 20 order is being “mischievously” misinterpreted.

The SC’s interim order stated that disqualification from contesting state body elections on completion of nine years would only be confined to office-bearers.

The CoA in its submission (copy of which is with PTI) has stated that SC’s order is being “erroneously construed in such a manner so as to override principal judgement dated July 18th, 2016, August 9, 2018.”

(With inputs from agencies)