Sunil Gavaskar shuts down player agency, will continue as commentator

Due to a possible conflict of interest scenario, legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar’s Professional Management Group (PMG) has shut its player management section, so that the former great can continue his commentary assignments. The company was managing four cricketers. PMG has recently told the cricketers that they can look for other agents.

The four cricketers are- Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan. The firm made the decision after BCCI sent circular stating that all future contracts will necessitate declaration that there are no two sources of income from Indian board.

“We have informed the players that we’re not going manage them. You can check with them,” a company source said. Players themselves did not want to be quoted but a couple of them have confirmed being informed about it.

BCCI yet to make a move

It is still not confirmed if the BCCI is happy with the above decision, as Gavaskar is still a vital part of the PMG firm.  Certain people in the BCCI were of the view that Gavaskar should completely dissociate himself with the company. Rahul Johri, the BCCI CEO, could not be contacted on the matter. Gavaskar is very much part of the commentary group at the moment, and he is set to cover India’s home series against Australia, starting on September 17.

Gavaskar in hot water

The conflict of interest issue featuring Gavaskar came into the open, after Ramchandra Guha, a former member of the BCCI’s Committee of Administrators (CoA), slammed Gavaskar’s professional links with the players.  “Sunil Gavaskar is head of a company which represents Indian cricketers while commenting on those cricketers as part of the BCCI TV commentary panel. This is a clear conflict of interest. Either he must step down/withdraw himself from PMG completely or stop being a commentator for BCCI,” Guha had said.