BCCI should've donated at least Rs 100 crore towards COVID relief: Ex-IPL GC member Surinder Khanna

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is under massive criticism. The board was also under the scanner for its decision to go ahead with the Indian Premier League (IPL) despite the current situation of the country due to COVID-19. India has witnessed more than 3 lakh each day in the past week and the fatality rate is only increasing multifold.

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In this situation, the cricketers involved in the IPL came forward to donate to different relief funds. However, no such announcement has come either from IPL or BCCI. The tournament was suspended indefinitely on May 4 after COVID entered the bio-secure bubble.

Meanwhile, the Ex-IPL Governing Council Member Surinder Khanna has taken a dig at the BCCI for not donating any significant amount to the COVID relief fund.

"The BCCI-IPL should have donated at least Rs 100 crore towards covid relief. It’s a loss of the BCCI’s profits, that’s all. In any case, the official IPL telecaster (Star Sports) has insurance cover under the force majeure clause. The Board still has enough cash reserves to carry out what is clearly its moral and social responsibility at a time like this," Khanna said according to CricTracker.

He also opined that the IPL should've been called off much earlier while questioning the BCCI for not hosting the tournament in the UAE. "The IPL should have been called much earlier, and even the franchises should have made that clear. Are they only bothered with profits, and not concerned with the lives. I just can’t understand why, just seven months down the line, did they decide to move back the tournament to India?

" bio-bubble operates best when there is just one city involved. So, maybe, if you chose only Mumbai, it was fine; but here, you were holding the league in six cities. Why did the Board not engage the same agency (Restrata) which had created such a secure bio-bubble in the IPL in the UAE last year? The Board must probe how the bubble was breached,” Khanna concluded