Aditya Verma asks Sharad Pawar to contest BCCI elections

NEW DELHI: Secretary of the unrecognised Cricket Association of Bihar, Aditya Verma today urged former BCCI chief and NCP strongman Sharad Pawar to contest for the post of president in the Cricket Board's upcoming elections.

The petitioner in the IPL spot-fixing scandal, Verma's long-drawn battle with the N Srinivasan camp resulted in the Supreme Court banning the ICC chairman from contesting the BCCI polls.

"I have requested Mr Pawar to contest the elections. BCCI is a sinking ship and only he can revive it once again because of his vast experience in administration and also integrity as an official," Verma told the media.

In a setback to Srinivasan, the Supreme Court on January 22 barred him from contesting any BCCI election on grounds of conflict of interest and set up a judges committee under a former Chief Justice of India to decide on the punishment in the IPL scam that threaten the future of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR).

There is intense speculation that Pawar, who is currently the President of Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), has decided to contest the BCCI elections.

Pawar was BCCI president from 2005 to 2008. The Member of Parliament has also been the president of International Cricket Council from 2010 to 2012.

The BCCI elections have been postponed twice due to the Supreme Court hearing in the 2013 IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal.

On January 22, the Supreme Court ordered that BCCI elections should be held within the next six weeks.

With Srinivasan's candidature now looking increasing doubtful due to his conflict of interest issues in Indian cricket, Pawar has emerged as a strong candidate though he may find the going tough as he has to be nominated by two units of East Zone. It is East Zone's turn to propose a candidate for the president's post this time.

Verma had last week also asked another former BCCI President Jagmohan Dalmiya to contest for the top post.