Days after the Indian cricket board
signed up Sachin Tendulkar as its cricket advisor, Sharad Pawar is planning to
rope in the former legend for a role in the Mumbai Cricket Association.
MCA president Pawar said Tendulkar
has already been approached about helping budding cricketers. “Some discussions
have already taken place with him (Tendulkar) about him helping out Mumbai
cricket. We already have a cricket improvement committee, cricket selection
committee, and if Sachin spares some time then Mumbai Cricket Association will
be extremely happy. We want to use his talent and his guidance for budding
cricketers,” Pawar said before addressing the first meeting of the Bal
Mahaddalkar group on Saturday evening ahead of next week’s MCA elections.
Pawar is contesting for the post of
MCA president after a decade and will be taking on the Shiv Sena-backed
candidate Vijay Patil. Pawar said he probably would have withdrawn from the
contest if Patil had given an undertaking not to demand international and IPL
games to be played at the D Y Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai of which
Patil is the president.
“Had he given such an undertaking I
probably would have withdrawn from the fray,” said Pawar. “They should have
made their position clear about hosting games in DY Patil stadium. We have no
objection to give practice matches, Ranji Trophy matches and other games (to DY
Patil stadium). But we can’t encourage talks about giving IPL matches from
which the MCA gets a few lakh rupees per match. If the match is given elsewhere
then MCA will suffer financial loss. So, the main responsibility of those who
want to contest elections and manage the affairs of the association must be to
protect each and every part of the organisation,” the former BCCI and ICC chief
said.
“If this condition would have been
accepted, probably I would not have contested also,” Pawar said. The NCP chief
stated that a Test match or an ODI cannot be organised at any ground as the
venue has to be approved by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Mumbai has
two grounds approved by ICC — the Wankhede stadium and the CCI. One cannot host
a match at a venue not recognised by ICC.
Another interesting electoral battle is the
fight for the vice-president’s post between two former cricketers — Dilip
Vengsarkar, who is with the Pawar-Mahaddlakar group, and Abey Kuruvilla, who is
part of the Patil group. Meanwhile, Republican Party of India (RPI) chief
Ramdas Athvale has withdrawn his nomination for vice-president’s post.
