Gautam Gambhir Questions BCCI Over Azharuddin Bell Ringing at 1st T20

In a question of the standards of ethics that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) maintains, Gautam Gambhir, former opening batsmen and captain of the national cricket team sent a scathing tweet that asked how the BCCI and its Committee of Administrators (CoA), and the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) could allow Mohammed Azharuddin, a fellow former captain who was banned for life due to a match-fixing scandal that came to light in the early 2000s, to ring the bell at the beginning of the first T20 match between India and the West Indies. CAB officials did not comment on his statement.

Gambhir took to Twitter to express his exasperated surprise at Azharuddin being allowed to participate in proceedings as he was removed from association with the sport for violating its moral code, tweeting, “India may have won today at Eden but I am sorry @bcci, CoA &CAB lost. Looks like the No Tolerance Policy against Corrupt takes a leave on Sundays! I know he was allowed to contest HCA polls but then this is shocking….The bell is ringing, hope the powers that be are listening.”

Earlier this month, Saurav Ganguly, President of the CAB, had also written to the BCCI its CoA asking how it planned to address the declining state of the most loved sport in the nation. He pointed a finger at unnecessary meddling from the CoA which is a body of administrators appointed by the Supreme Court and not necessarily directly associated with the sport of cricket.