Toothless ban (at least in this IPL)
5-yr lock on SRK, board yet to clear
Mumbai, May 18: The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has banned or recommended to ban Shah Rukh Khan for five years from the Wankhede Stadium, where no remaining match of the ongoing IPL season is scheduled.
The altercation-induced action — announced by Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh whose son is close to Shah Rukh — was immediately sucked into a twilight zone with the BCCI terming it as a "recommendation" and saying the cricket board would take the final decision.
The remaining matches of IPL-V will be played in Pune, Bangalore and Chennai.
A tweet from KKR team director Joy Bhattacharjya put the ban in perspective. "For all the difference it makes to his life. It's like banning Gautam Gambhir from Mehboob studios."
Statements from MCA and BCCI sources suggested many are hoping that the "exemplary five-year ban" — a bit of a downsizing, considering a life ban was initially discussed — would pacify the Mumbai officials and a compromise would be worked out later.
A faint hint of a threat came from a senior cricket administrator in Delhi, too, who suggested that subsequent IPLs can always bank on stadia elsewhere if the Wankhede, in spite of its legendary status, is shut out for a team owner.
"We have handed a five-year ban on him and it was a unanimous decision. It applies to any match whether domestic or international at the Wankhede," Deshmukh, MCA president and Union minister, told a news conference after a 20-minute meeting of the managing committee.
An MCA official said the decision to impose a ban for five years, instead of for life, was based on a proposal by the president. "Vilasrao was livid about Shah Rukh's behaviour. But they (Shah Rukh and Deshmukh) have had a long relationship and, somewhere, it held him back," said the official.
MCA sources said Deshmukh was finding himself caught between a rock and a hard place. Said to be nursing aspirations to play a central role in the BCCI at some point, Deshmukh cannot afford to antagonise the MCA.
"He was aware that he could not upset the majority of MCA members who were baying for SRK's blood. If he has to get a foothold in the BCCI, he will need their votes," a source said.
Deshmukh did not disappoint the MCA members. "If rules are violated, action will be taken. It does not depend who the individual is. It's a message to everyone, whosoever he or she may be, that stern action will be taken if there is any misbehaviour," he said.
But the former chief minister kept the door ajar by saying he did not have any control over the BCCI.
Asked if the BCCI can reverse the decision to ban Shah Rukh, Deshmukh said: "We have taken a decision to protect the dignity of our association. The BCCI is our parent body and we have written to them informing them what had happened. We have no control over the BCCI's decision. We are also an independent body with the Wankhede being our property."
A BCCI official said the board's stamp of approval was needed to make the decision operational.
"The MCA is a state body. According to rules, it can only recommend such a ban but the final decision has to be taken by the BCCI. We in the board will decide when it comes before us," IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla said.
Toothless ban (at least in this IPL)