Lack of time behind Ramachandra Guha resignation

New Delhi: Historian Ramachandra Guha on Thursday cited personal reasons in resigning from the Committee of Adminis-trators appointed by the Supreme Court to oversee the working of the cricket control board and implementation of the Lodha Committee recommendations.

The Bengaluru-based Guha handed in his resignation to the Supreme Court here on Thursday, immediately sparking off speculation linking it to the ongoing uncertainty over the future of Anil Kumble as India’s head coach, whom Guha has been a supporter of.

Kumble’s term ends later this month and it is increasingly unclear whether or not he will stay on in the job that was handed to him by the board’s advisory committee of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman.

The court is in recess for its summer break and a vacation bench of judges deferred accepting the decision to July 14, when the court will resume hearings on implementation of the Lodha report.

There was no comment or statement from the historian himself, though it was reported that he had informed CoA chairman and former CAG Vinod Rai of his decision to quit the committee that was set up in January this year for lack of time owing to his academic commitments.

The committee as it stands now has Rai, former India women’s captain Diana Eduljee and managing director of IDFC, Vikram Limaye, to help run the BCCI along with its office-bearers.

In the run-up to his resignation, Guha helped play a part in India not pulling out of the Champions Trophy in England, which began in London on the day after the BCCI and the International Cricket Council were involved in a spat over division of the latter’s revenues.

Guha, as part of the CoA was involved in pushing for better pay for the coach and players, a surprise fallout of which was the calling of applications for the head coach’s job.

Kumble had led talks with the BCCI over player contracts and payment, and enhanced pay for the backroom staff as well, following which reports of a rift between him and India captain Virat Kohli emerged for the first time.