Gavaskar turns down IPL governing council role

Sunil Gavaskar has turned down the BCCI's offer to be part of the IPL's governing council, saying he felt that the league was a commercial enterprise and those working for it should be remunerated. The Indian board had said on Wednesday that members of the reconstituted council would no longer receive a salary.

"I have been contacted and I have declined because after yesterday [Wednesday] I had second thoughts," Gavaskar told NDTV. "The IPL is a commercial enterprise and non-BCCI members, former cricketers included, should be remunerated for the expertise, experience and time that they bring to the table."

Gavaskar had, on Wednesday evening, said he was willing to work in an honorary capacity but said this was not a turnaround. "Let me tell you for Indian cricket I am always there, but the IPL is a commercial enterprise." Under the old system, the three former cricketers on the council - Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi - were paid Rs 1 crore (approximately $220,000) for their services.

Doing away with salaries was only one of the wholesale changes the BCCI made to the governing council at its annual general meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday. It dissolved the existing body and set up a new one with Chirayu Amin as the chairman. The council also included five other members - Arun Jaitley, Ranjib Biswal, Anurag Thakur, Ajay Shirke and Rajiv Shukla - and two former cricketers, one of whom was Shastri, who had agreed to work in an honorary capacity.

Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, had said that he needed to check with Gavaskar and Pataudi whether they were willing to serve on the council without remuneration.