If ICC is voice, BCCI is invoice: Pataudi

NEW DELHI - Former India captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi had a dig at the Indian cricket board Wednesday, saying the International Cricket Council (ICC) is the “voice” of the game and the Indian board is the “invoice.”

“The ICC is the voice of cricket but BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) is the invoice. It is time that we have a pro-active, eloquent and constructive BCCI for the benefit of the game across the world,” he said.

Pataudi felt that the BCCI should lobby hard for stringent rules against betting, which is a bane for international cricket.

“The BCCI has a lot of central cabinet ministers and also leaders of opposition parties in their ranks. So they should lobby for more stringent rules against gambling as 70 percent of money and 80 per cent of the viewership comes from India,” said Pataudi, at Raj Singh Dungarpur World Cricket Summit that was held here on the 75th birth anniversary of late BCCI president.

Pataudi’s one-time teammate Bishan Singh Bedi, however, felt that chucking is an equally big menace like betting that is ruining international cricket.

Bedi again hit out against Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan

“If you ask me whether Muttiah Muralidharan has taken 800 wickets, I would call them 800 run-outs! I am not ready to believe that you can bowl a doosra without chucking,” said Bedi.

“On one hand, you have a magician like Shane Warne and on the other side you have a Muralitharan. It puts things in shambles,” he added.