MUMBAI: ICC chief executive Manu Sawhney has reportedly been asked to go on leave effective Tuesday and efforts are underway to find a compromise formula wherein the media veteran leaves “the post with dignity by tendering his resignation”.
“Allegations ranging from very serious to as petty as arrogance and high-handedness, to as internally serious as hiring and sacking employees at a whim are being held against this individual. Cricket administration has been in absolute disarray and ICC had to act,” Times of India reported, quoting sources with “direct knowledge of developments”.
The TOI report further states that the ICC commissioned UK-based accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) earlier this year to investigate Sawhney’s “manner of conduct” within the organization and several alleged misdemeanors were looked in to after interviewing all levels of staff over the last one month.
Aside from the purported concerns over Sawhney’s failures on the human resources front, the crux of the matter as far as SportzPower is concerned, is NOT about his management style of functioning. It is, which the TOI report notes in passing, about Sawhney’s role in dictating the media-rights cycle, unilateral allotment of ICC events (or the promise of it), and the position he took during the election process for a new ICC chairman, which is under the scanner.
The daily reported that a few cricket boards (read the ‘Big Three’ of BCCI, England and Wales Cricket Board and Cricket Australia) are unhappy with Sawhney for backing interim chairman Imran Khawaja during the elections last year. According to TOI, Sawhney has been under pressure since the election process for the new chairman was set in motion last year, which ended with New Zealand’s Greg Barclay taking the position in November.
Another reason why the Big Three are reportedly upset is his backing to the ICC’s recent decision of asking boards to bid and pay a fee for hosting events during the next cycle. The Big Three are completely against the idea and have made their displeasure clear at various ICC board meetings, TOI reports.
A third pain point for the Big Three is the proposal backed by him to have at least one ICC flagship event every year during the next eight-year cycle from 2023-2031.
Coming back to the efforts being made to get Sawhney to resign. In case he chooses not to resign, it could reportedly lead to a long-drawn removal procedure by the board of directors.
As said source/s told TOI: “Manu also has support within the board which is now split into two factions of 9 and 8 members on each side. To remove Manu, one would need 12 out of the 17 votes, which is two-thirds of the board of directors, since he came with the approval of a majority of the board.
“It will be interesting if the faction comprising ‘Big Three’ can get 12 out of the 17 votes required to remove him.”
For the record, Sawhney had taken charge as ICC chief executive after the 2019 World Cup, in place of Dave Richardson. Sawhney was also with ESPN Star Sports for 17 years and was responsible for scaling the business and doubling annual revenues. He also led the global broadcast partnership deal with the ICC that ran from 2007-2015.
He is also a non-executive director and member of the Audit Committee of Manchester United Ltd.
