Greed creeping into cricket: Chitrak Mitra

Terming the IPL spot-fixing scandal as unfortunate, BCCI vice-president Chitrak Mitra said that too much of greed has crept into cricket bringing disrepute to the game.

"What has happened in the IPL is very very unfortunate. It has become clear that greed is creeping into cricket," Mitra told reporters at his residence before leaving for the Board emergency meeting in Chennai on Sunday.

He, however, refused to comment on the growing clamour for the resignation of the beleaguered BCCI president N Srinivasan.

Mitra said secretary Sanjay Jagdale and treasurer Ajay Shirke's resignations from their respective posts have left the BCCI with no signatories.

"I cannot comment on Jagdale and Shirke's resignations, that's their individual decision. But what I can say is after the duo's resignation yesterday night, the Board has no signatories. There's nobody to even sign a cheque," he said.

Reiterating that he was not under any kind of pressure to put in his papers, Mitra said he has adopted a wait and watch policy and would take a call only after the meeting.

"I'll not resign just yet. I'm following a wait and watch policy on what the others (the four vice-presidents – Arun Jaitley (North), Sudhir Dabir (Central), Niranjan Shah (West) and South's Shivlal Yadav) -- are doing. I'll decide after the meeting," he said.

Mitra further said he held a decorative post.

"It does not matter if I resign or not. Vice-president is a decorative post, there's no real power. It makes no difference if I resign," Mitra insisted

Photograph: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters