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“No man can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” That’s what the good book states.
An article in Outlook India highlighted the inherent conflict of interest in the job profiles of Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri when they (supposedly) provide unbiased, expert comments on games involving India while at the same time are contracted directly to the Board for Cricket Control in India (BCCI).
The story was picked up by the major news publications in the country.
Gavaskar and Shastri categorically denied that their commitment to the BCCI weighs on their minds when they air their opinions for various broadcasting bodies.
The controversy comes at a time when the BCCI has been roundly castigated for its reluctance to endorse the Hawkeye technology in the Decision Review System (DRS).
It is seen as no coincidence that Shastri and Gavaskar echo the BCCI’s point of view in their public comments on the issue.
It could well be, as the duo argue, that their viewpoint (also Sachin Tendulkar’s) and the BCCI’s coincide on the matter. But when it comes to conflicts of interest, it is perception that plays the crucial part.
For most cricket fans, the information that the duo are employed with the national administrative body to the tune of Rs 3.6 crore (about $780,000 AUD) per annum was unwelcome news.
Certainly, every statement the pair make will now be taken with a pinch of salt.
Sunny Gavaskar was characteristically insouciant about the affair, claiming that every sphere of life has some conflict or the other.
He said: “But they (people) have got to remember that achievers, like them, also have two eyes, two hands—and a stomach (to feed)!”
Ravi Shastri brazened it out saying that his “conscience is clear and clean.”
The interested reader can draw his or her own conclusions.
Either there exists a conflict of interest (not acknowledged by the parties concerned) or there is none and the BCCI’s stance on matters cricketing are Ravi Shastri’s and Sunil Gavaskar’s as well.
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