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To continue as commentator, Gavaskar shuts player agency
Tuesday 12 September 2017

To continue as commentator, Gavaskar shuts player agency
Sunil Gavaskar's Professional Management Group (PMG) has shut its player management wing so that the former India skipper can avoid being conflicted. But will that be enough for him to continue as a commentator for India games is still uncertain. The PMG was managing four cricketers.
The firm has recently informed Shikhar Dhawan, Rishab Pant, Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan that they are free to look for new agents, a development that has been confirmed by a couple of players mentioned above as well as sources in the PMG.
"We have informed the players that we're not going manage them. You can check with them," a company source said. Players themselves did not want to be quoted but a couple of them have confirmed being informed about it.
The PMG decision comes days after BCCI sent circular stating that all future contracts will necessitate declaration that there are no two sources of income from Indian board. A six-page guidelines was sent to all those employed or contracted with the BCCI and of particular importance here is Illustration 2 on Page 3 of the letter which is in possession of this paper. It goes like this: "B is a BCCI commentator. He also runs a sports management company which contracts members of the team. B is hit by Conflict of Interest."
It is still not known if the BCCI will be satisfied with the PMG decision. A section of the board was of the view that Gavaskar should completely dissociate himself with the company. Rahul Johri, the BCCI CEO, could not be contacted on the matter. As of yesterday, he was part of the commentary panel for the Australia series starting on September 17 with L Sivaramakrishnan as standby.
The Gavaskar's conflict issue came into limelight after Ramchandra Guha, a former member of the BCCI's Committee of Administrators (CoA), lashed out at Gavaskar's professional links with the players. "Sunil Gavaskar is head of a company which represents Indian cricketers while commenting on those cricketers as part of the BCCI TV commentary panel. This is a clear conflict of interest. Either he must step down/withdraw himself from PMG completely or stop being a commentator for BCCI," Guha had said.
Gavaskar was subsequently drafted into the 
commentary panel of the BCCI but it came with a rider - that he s h o u l d come clean on conflict. Others in the BCCI commentary panel are Sanjay Manjrekar, Murali Kartik, Harsha Bhogle and Brad Hogg. Michael Clarke and Brett Lee are part of the Star Sports panel.

Sunil Gavaskar's Professional Management Group (PMG) has shut its player management wing so that the former India skipper can avoid being conflicted. But will that be enough for him to continue as a commentator for India games is still uncertain. The PMG was managing four cricketers.

The firm has recently informed Shikhar Dhawan, Rishab Pant, Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan that they are free to look for new agents, a development that has been confirmed by a couple of players mentioned above as well as sources in the PMG.

"We have informed the players that we're not going manage them. You can check with them," a company source said. Players themselves did not want to be quoted but a couple of them have confirmed being informed about it.

The PMG decision comes days after BCCI sent circular stating that all future contracts will necessitate declaration that there are no two sources of income from Indian board. A six-page guidelines was sent to all those employed or contracted with the BCCI and of particular importance here is Illustration 2 on Page 3 of the letter which is in possession of this paper. It goes like this: "B is a BCCI commentator. He also runs a sports management company which contracts members of the team. B is hit by Conflict of Interest."

It is still not known if the BCCI will be satisfied with the PMG decision. A section of the board was of the view that Gavaskar should completely dissociate himself with the company. Rahul Johri, the BCCI CEO, could not be contacted on the matter. As of yesterday, he was part of the commentary panel for the Australia series starting on September 17 with L Sivaramakrishnan as standby.

The Gavaskar's conflict issue came into limelight after Ramchandra Guha, a former member of the BCCI's Committee of Administrators (CoA), lashed out at Gavaskar's professional links with the players. "Sunil Gavaskar is head of a company which represents Indian cricketers while commenting on those cricketers as part of the BCCI TV commentary panel. This is a clear conflict of interest. Either he must step down/withdraw himself from PMG completely or stop being a commentator for BCCI," Guha had said.

Gavaskar was subsequently drafted into the commentary panel of the BCCI but it came with a rider - that he s h o u l d come clean on conflict. Others in the BCCI commentary panel are Sanjay Manjrekar, Murali Kartik, Harsha Bhogle and Brad Hogg. Michael Clarke and Brett Lee are part of the Star Sports panel.

(Courtesy: Mumbai Mirror)

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