KATHMANDU, Oct 5: International Cricket Council (ICC), the world cricket governing body, has formed a six-member ICC advisory committee with a view to ‘solve crisis of Nepali cricket’.
The ICC on September 4 had declared to form an advisory committee with the mandate of drafting a new statute of the cricket governing body of the country and facilitating in holding a fresh election at the earliest.
Nepali cricket has been engulfed in internal disputes leading to the suspension of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) by the world cricket governing body in April. The controversial election of the so called elected CAN and formation of new ad hoc committee by the National Sports Council (NSC) had prompted ICC to suspend CAN.
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According to NSC Press Advisor Rohit Dahal, a letter received from the ICC has appointed six members in the committee.
The committee has included former CAN President Binay Raj Pandey and former national cricket captain Pawan Agrawal, who is also the president of Cricket Players’ Association of Nepal as the members.
Similarly, joint-secretary at the Ministry of Youth and Sports Choodamani Paudel, former CAN Vice President Deepak Koirala and business entrepreneur Basanta Chaudhary are the other members.
The committee will also include a representative from the NSC. The sports governing body of the country will recommend the name of its representative, according to Dahal. ICC has a provision to include one more member in the committee, most likely from the elected CAN.
However, the elected CAN has expressed dissatisfaction toward the action of ICC and has refused to join the committee. The ICC has proposed General Secretary Ashok Nath Pyakurel of the elected CAN to join the committee. But President Chatur Bahadur Chand had refused ICC’s proposal citing that the ICC action was against the established norms and it would only institutionalized government interference.
The committee has been given the deadline of December to form a new draft of the proposed cricket board.
The ICC team comprising of Chief Executive David Richardson, Chairman of Associates Imran Khwaja and Finance Manager Ammar Sheikh had held meeting with various stakeholders including Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Minister for Youth and Sports Daljit Sripali and NSC Member Secretary Keshav Kumar Bista on September 4 to solve the crisis.
