Whatever is happening today between Lorgat and BCCI must end - Former CSA chief Ali Bacher

Ali Bacher

Ali Bacher, former South African captain and former chief of the South African Cricket Board, has requested the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Cricket South Africa (CSA) to pacify the existing tensions between the two parties as a result of Haroon Lorgat’s appointment as the chief executive of CSA in July 2013.

CSA released a statement on Friday stating that Lorgat will be meeting Sanjay Patel, the secretary of the BCCI, on the sidelines of the ICC Chief Executives Committee conference, that starts on September 16 in Dubai, to resolve the issues between the two sides.

Bacher, in his column for The Hindustan Times, wrote: “It pains me that relations between the cricketing boards of India and South Africa have hit such a low. We were really close when I was heading South African cricket in the early 1990s.

“When we came to India in November 1991, I told Dalmiya (then the BCCI secretary), ‘there is such unbelievable interest in South Africa, we have to televise the game there too’. At that time, Doordarshan televised cricket in India and it was all done for free.

“We immediately offered BCCI a quarter million rand to get the feed for South Africa. That was when Dalmiya realised the potential of Indian cricket. In many ways, we were responsible for that.

“What we must realise is that when we made our comeback, there was still no democracy (in South Africa). And yet the BCCI and ANC (African National Congress) backed us. I hope history teaches administrators the lessons they need. Whatever is happening today between Haroon Lorgat and BCCI must end.”