JAIPUR: Former cricketer Bishen Singh Bedi has said that all things nasty in cricket administration over the last few decades were by “design” and the reforms suggested by the Lodha committee should have been brought in 50 years ago.

“The reforms in Indian cricket administration should have been put in place 50 years ago. The Supreme Court did not jumped in on its own but it brought about some sanity and honesty in cricket administration therefore justice Lodha panel was important,” Bedi said at the ‘Jaipur Literature Festival’.

On what will be the way forward for the BCCI, Bedi, whose name has cropped up as a possible member of the committee to run the Board, said “the BCCI will have to ensure that it follows the diktat of the apex court.” “With the Justice Lodha panel, a beginning has been made but some of the very greedy cricket officials in BCCI and in state associations are not willing to part with the kind of authority they have and the perks which came along,” he said. Taking a dig at politicians involved in cricket administration, he said they are at loggerheads on several issues but when it comes to cricket, they stand united. “All the politicians, be it from BJP, Congress or any other party, they become one. They can have all differences in Parliament but when it comes to the cricket, they become one, the silent operators,” he said. On IPL, he said that it is more of a money-making exercise than a proper cricket tournament. “Cricketers want to play Test matches but they have one eye and one ear to IPL,” he said. He was in conversation with Suresh Menon on the launch of the book Wisden Almanack-2017.–PTI