Haryana Cricket Association objects to Lodha proposal on making international players ‘automatic’ members

NEW DELHI: Former Indian cricket captain Kapil Dev may have headed the national team which brought home the first world cup trophy and spent decades to improve the game in the country, but he is not good enough to be an automatic member of the Haryana Cricket Association (HCA) or be part of its administrative set-up, the association suggested in the Supreme Court on Monday.

The association, through senior advocate Puneet Bali, objected to a Lodha panel recommendation to make all international players from the state “automatic” members of their respective state associations, indirectly alluding to players such as Kapil Dev who have in the past revolted against the mismanagement in the HCA, historically controlled by the family of former chief minister Bansi Lal.

“Not every international player is a person of good character. No one can insist that we include them as automatic members. Who we choose to associate with our administration is our prerogative.

No one can insist that we include a player. An international player need not be a good administrator. These are two different things,” Bali argued before a special bench, comprising Chief Justice of India TS Thakur and FMI Kalifullah.

He also referred condescendingly to such “players” who have in the past turned up to contest in the elections, but failed to even find a second person to propose their names. “People may not like them. They may want someone else. How can you curtail that freedom?”