Mumbai cricket unhappy over Supreme Court's idea of one-state, one-vote

The Supreme Court order for the one state, one-vote rule has not been welcomed by the state associations who will be affected by it, especially from Mumbai’s cricketing fraternity.

The one-state-one-vote recommendation means that the associations of Maharashtra, Mumbai and Vidarbha, which were functioning independently until now, will have only one vote in the BCCI on a rotational basis of one-year each.

The court says “rotational arrangement will give each association a right to a full member’s vote when its turn comes, without violating the broader principle of ‘one state one vote’ and such a system would also respect the history of these associations, their role in the promotion of the game and the formation of the BCCI.”

But people associated with Mumbai cricket aren’t so happy with the rotational system. Madhav Apte, one of the oldest living Test cricketers in the world and certainly the oldest from Mumbai right now states that its is sad to see the history of Mumbai cricket is been neglected.

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“I can’t see the need for such an arrangement. Do you mean to say that if three votes are reduced to one, politics will cease to exist? And because there are a few bad apples, does it mean those who’ve done good for the game and tried their best to uphold its history should suffer,” says 83-year-old

“There are some other rules too that I read; Three selectors instead of five, for example. I can’t understand the need for this. It’ll be sad if the history of Mumbai cricket is not upheld and I hope the men who are in charge of making these decisions get it right,” adds Apte. This Mumbai octogenarian isn’t the only one worried. There are others too.

“Whatever has happened trivialises history . In London, Middlesex and Surrey are just half-an-hour from each other. But as counties, don’t they have their own individual identities?” says former captain Milind Rege. “It’s like this: Because of two bad students in the class, the whole class has to suffer. Yes, there is certainly a need for better transparency in governance and some recommendations are good. But what’s happening outside of that is sad. Mumbai’s legacy has been completely wiped out,” adds Rege.

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Former Mumbai batting mainstay Amol Muzumdar also expressed his disagreement.

“The MCA has been like a mother to us. I can’t think of any other way to describe it. Really don’t understand how they’ve come up with these conclusions,” he says.

Seasoned veteran Ravi Shastri says he doesn’t think he ever climbed the first floor of the MCA office more than twice in his 14 years of playing for Mumbai. Shastri is optimistic that cricket will be given the space to continue the way it has while administrators and the court work on other `important’ aspects.

“Barring the really big names, at most times we didn’t even know who were the office bearers in the MCA.”

“I should be secure in the knowledge that if I get a 100 or a double hundred, it is going to stay in the Mumbai cricket record books.

“Outside of this, what could possibly be the repercussion of this court judgment, that only time will tell. As far as funding goes, I’m certain Mumbai will not be in the same bracket as some northeast state,” he adds.