28 March,2014 08:50 AM IST | | Jasvinder Sidhu
Justice Patnaik, a former cricketer himself, was keen to know about batting great's whereabouts before recommending his name to replace N Srinivasan as BCCI chief
Sunil Gavaskar:
New Delhi: The clichéd "glorious uncertainties" in the game of cricket came to the fore yet again yesterday - in the Supreme Court of all places - where a bench headed by Justice A K Patnaik put forward batting legend Sunil Gavaskar's name as a candidate to take over as president of the Indian cricket board from N Srinivasan.
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Sunil Gavaskar
The manner in which Gavaskar came up for discussion in the court hearing of the spot fixing case was most remarkable. Senior counsel and Bihar Cricket Association lawyer Harish Salve, who reportedly accused India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni of being economical with the truth to the Mudgal probe panel, stressed the point that several great players like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid deposed before the panel.
Suddenly, Patnaik asked, "Why was Mr Sunil Gavaskar left out? What about Mr Gavaskar? Anyway, where is he? Is he okay, is he fit?" Salve was quick with a reply: "Yes lordship, he is okay and very fit. I think he is doing commentary nowadays, but if chair wants to know, I can find out." Patnaik, who has played cricket at the amateur level smiled and made a note of something.
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Big name
After listening to Salve for 150 minutes, the Supreme Court suggested Gavaskar or another respected cricketer's name as a replacement for Srinivasan. Lawyer Rahul Mehra informed the court that Gavaskar also had commercial interests in the BCCI, but Patnaik stated he was not pushing anybody's name and Gavaskar's appointment was mere a suggestion.
There is a possibility of Gavaskar not getting the highest seat in the BCCI and probably the batting icon knows that. "I will consider it. It will be a huge honour that Supreme Court feels I will be good enough to do the job. But we will have to wait and watch until tomorrow in which direction it goes. Let's not jump the gun," Gavaskar told NDTV.
Ten years ago...
mid-day's October 5, 2004 report of Gavaskar coming on board as team consultant
