New Delhi
The Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) has finally woken up from its deep slumber and announced the formation of its Cricket Committee. Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag, his one-time Delhi and India partner Aakash Chopra and leg-spinner Rahul Sanghvi will make the core of the committee. Gautam Gambhir has been added as a special invitee. This is the first major announcement by DDCA after the Rajat Sharma-led panel swept the elections on July 2.

The Cricket Committee, as per a DDCA statement, will form “various selection committees as per the recommendations made by the Lodha Committee and the BCCI guidelines for the state association and to give valuable guidance to the association for the improvement of cricket in Delhi.”

Conflict of interest
While the statement cites the Lodha Committee recommendations as a guiding principle for the committee to select various selection committees to run the game, the choice of members is a clear disregard of the same. Almost all the members run into the conflict of interest issue that has singed many cricketers and administrators in the last two years.

Gambhir is an active cricketer but will be part of a committee that will select a selection committee for the Delhi Ranji team, which in turn is likely to appoint him captain for the coming season.

Sanghvi is employed with Mumbai Indians as team manager. He also assists the team in player recruitment. Sehwag runs a cricket academy. Chopra is a cricket commentator and columnist and may get embroiled in the conflict of interest issue if the Lodha recommendations are enforced in totality.

DDCA officials, though, argue that nowadays all cricketers of high repute have some “interests” and if the Lodha recommendations were to be followed, then most cricketers of repute won’t have a say in running the game.

“The delay in announcement happened as many of them gave us the consent late. We were also guilty here as the discussions started late at our end too,” DDCA secretary Vinod Tihara said.