Let us be a little bit patient with commission: Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar asked one and all to be a "bit patient with the three-member commission" that will be probing the spot-fixing and betting allegations levelled against BCCI president N Srinivasan's son-in-law and CSK 'Team Principal' Gurunath Meiyappan.

"It has been decided that the commission will carry out an inquiry. As much as we argue now, we should allow the commission to do its job. Let us all be a little patient. To even doubt the integrity of the two retired judges and secretary Sanjay Jagdale, who only has interest of Indian cricket in mind is ridiculous," Gavaskar told NDTV.

The bone of contention now is whether Srinivasan should have stepped down from his position till the inquiry was over, but Gavaskar batted for the troubled Tamil Nadu strongman.

"What is the guarantee that even if Srinivasan is not inthe chair, it will be a free probe? I am staggered by this cynicism."

There were questions raised as both the retired judges hail from south India and Gavaskar gave a sarcastic reply.

"This is the reason that we don't have an Indian coach in charge as there will always be question mark about regional bias. If judges from south India won't conduct a free and fair probe then call someone from overseas to conduct an inquiry. As only those from overseas are free and impartial," questioned Gavaskar.

The legendary opener sidestepped the issue of conflict of interest which has been a constant charge against Srinivasan after his company India Cements bought the CSK franchise.

"I don't know what the circumstances were back then in 2008. I guess Mr Srinivasan made an application to those who were in-charge then. So it's a neither here nor there case," he concluded.

Photograph: BCCI