Michael Vaughan (L, PC: BBC) and KKR CEO Venky Mysore (R, PC: Sandeep Shetty /SPORTZPICS).
English pundit Michael Vaughan has chastised Kolkata Knight Riders Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Venky Mysore for his alleged meddling in the team’s playing XI selections. Vaughan advised the businessman to ‘go and count some cash’ and ‘let the cricket people make the cricket decisions’.
Knight Riders’ captain Shreyas Iyer stirred the hornet’s nest by recently saying that apart from head coach Brendon McCullum, Mysore is ‘obviously involved in team selections’. Although such involvement is not a new issue in the IPL – it was a rare instance when a captain himself revealed this to the public.
Speaking to Cricbuzz ahead of the team’s match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, the first since the statement, Vaughan said:
“My belief in sport is that the CEO is there to count the coffers. Once that management structure is put in place with the coach and the captain, a CEO should be nowhere near the actual selection side of the operation. He’s done his role, go and count some cash, whatever the cash is coming in that’s his job. Let the cricket people make the cricket decisions.”
Mysore held Knight Riders’ placard in the 2022 auction and is often seen with the team, giving motivational speeches and offering awards. However, in a season where the team has spent more time in the bottom half than the top, questions relating to authority can’t be invalid.
“If they don’t do well enough, well, you sack them” – Michael Vaughan to Venky Mysore
Vaughan added that CEOs like Mysore should let a system of cricketing people run the team, judge their returns against their investments, and decide whether they are good enough to continue or not. The former England captain said:
“That’s why they’ve been put in that position and if they don’t do well enough, well, you sack them. It’s the nature of the professional sport. But allow them that power, allow them that freedom to pick the team, come up with the right role, the right solutions. And at the end of the IPL you decide are you happy with the coach and the captain.””Have they done well enough with what you’ve given them? If you are not happy as a CEO, then you get rid of them, as simple as that. But you do not, as a CEO, get involved in any kind of selectorial decisions. Stay in your office and look at your computer.”
The Knight Riders’ clash with the Sunrisers is underway at Pune’s MCA Stadium. You can catch the live scores here.
