FICA wants Srinivasan out of ICC roles

The Federation of International Cricketers' Association (FICA) wants N Srinivasan to step aside from all functions pertaining to the International Cricket Council, reports Wisden India.

Paul Marsh, FICA's executive chairman, said it was imperative that the ICC board act strongly in response to the situation involving Srinivasan.

Srinivasan stepped down from his post as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, even as the Supreme Court, during a hearing into the Indian Premier League's spot-fixing scandal and related issues on March 28, passed an interim order asking him to do so. The court instated Sunil Gavaskar as interim president to look into affairs related to IPL 7, which starts in the United Arab Emirates on April 16; BCCI appointed Shivlal Yadav to look into non-IPL related issues.

While Gavaskar and Yadav have started their duties in the BCCI, Srinivasan continues to be involved in the ICC. He is supposed to attend the ICC's executive board meeting in Dubai on April 9 and 10. On the agenda is a discussion on the proposed ICC governance model, which includes the point of Srinivasan's appointment as ICC chairman.

"While we are pleased that Mr Srinivasan, at the behest of the Supreme Court, has agreed to step down from his duties as BCCI president, we are of the firm belief that he should not be exercising any functions on behalf of the ICC either, while any investigations concerning his conduct or that of his company are pending or unresolved," said Marsh in a release. "The cricket world has been told time and again by the ICC that corruption is the game's biggest issue and that the game has a zero tolerance approach to it. For our game to survive, we need it to be not only free of corruption but free of any suspicion of corruption.

"The ICC needs to put the reputation of the game and confidence in its procedures first. The players, and other stakeholders in the game, are entitled to expect this from the ICC's executive board. Under the current circumstances, the prospect of Mr Srinivasan taking the highest posting in world cricket while these matters are unresolved, is an impossible one.

As per the court order, all employees of India Cements (except for cricket players and commentators) associated with the BCCI have been relieved of their responsibilities, and Marsh felt that on those grounds Srinivasan, the company's managing director, should not be involved with ICC affairs.

"Serious allegations of betting and spot-fixing in IPL 2013 have been made against Gurunath Meiyappan as the alleged team principal of Chennai Super Kings, and these remain the subject of proceedings before the Indian Supreme Court," said Marsh. "Mr Srinivasan is the managing director of Indian Cements Ltd (the owner of the Chennai Super Kings) and is also the father-in-law of Mr Meiyappan."