NEW DELHI: Refusal to sanction hospitality passes to tech giant Apple for an (ultimately abandoned) India-Australia T20 match has triggered a conflict between the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s acting president and secretary.
According to an Indian Express report, BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary sent a scathing missive to stand-in president CK Khanna for refusing to sanction 10 of a requested 20 passes for the 13 October match in Hyderabad, which was eventually washed out. Choudhary sent an email to the BCCI chief accusing him of neglecting important board issues because his “favourite subject has consistently been passes for international matches and even IPL games”, says the report.
In his mail, Choudhary wrote: “Recently, the undersigned (Choudhary) and you received an email from a BCCI official for allotting 20 hospitality passes for the Hyderabad India-Australia T20 game (eventually washed out) for Apple. Considering the brand profile of the company and potential future partnership with BCCI, I immediately suggested 10 from Hon Secy’s quota and another 10 from President’s quota could be allotted. You declined it and so I allotted all 20 from Hon Secy’s quota.”
Choudhary further wrote that BCCI officials shouldn’t use their quota of passes as “personal favours to friends, relatives and most voters, but whatever would serve the Board’s interests best”.
Justifying the hospitality extended to Apple, Choudhary wrote, “I had thought that it was worthwhile from the BCCI’s point of view to send passes to Apple on their request.”
Choudhary’s email reportedly also touched upon Khanna’s silence on the implementation of the Lodha Committee’s recommendations, mentioning that he “never once” received any communication from the president on “various national tournaments, currently underway, in the face of unseasonal but persistent rains in various parts of the country, issues relating to numerous tax litigations, negotiations with Kochi Tuskers, issues that Pakistan has tried to raise and so on”.
The report however quotes sources to back Khanna’s refusal, who said that he was right in refusing hospitality to Apple, as the BCCI has Oppo and Vivo, Apple’s competitors in India, as title sponsors.
Chinese handset major Oppo Mobiles recently won the sponsorship rights for the Indian cricket team for a period of five years, while sister company Vivo retained the IPL title sponsorship rights for five years for Rs 21.99 billion.
