XtraTime Web Desk: The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) General Manager (Cricket Operations), Saba Karim has been asked to quit from his chair and an announcement on the same is set to be done soon. Saba joined the on the post in the year 2017, when the then CEO Rahul Johri gave him the appointment.
Karim’s exit from the BCCI comes a week after the board accepted Johri’s resignation.
Speaking to IANS, a BCCI functionary said that, ”The former cricketer’s role has been under the scanner ever since the current dispensation took charge and the outgoing women selectors informing them of Karim’s constant interference in selection matters could have been the final nail in the coffin.”
“Saba was not invited to present the changes in BCCI domestic structure at the recently concluded Apex Council meeting. Instead, Rao made the presentation, making it clear what was in store.
“His appointment has been in scrutiny since the office bearers took over last year. The eligibility was tweaked to suit him in a closed-door meeting between Vinod Rai and Rahul Johri after the appointment process had commenced. This severely disadvantaged the others who had the same qualifications bu’ weren’t even aware that they could”apply,” the functionary explained.
“It is learnt that the outgoing women selectors have accused Saba of bullying and interfering in the selection matters. His mishandling a national team came to the fore when Mithali Raj, an international icon, time and again said that she was dragged into the controversy where she was pitted against Harmanpreet Kaur after she confided”in Saba.”
A former BCCI official said that Karim’s style of functioning was incorrect as he often came across as arrogant. “In my experience of working with him, a few things stood out. He was arrogant with the members who would have a genuine query, he lacked the ability to think his decisions through and they were decisions that impacted domestic cricket deeply and lastly he was opaque in promoting those people who were close to him at the cost of others who may have been better suited for positions. He would take credit for other people’s hard-work,” he told IANS.