Under-fire Gavaskar set to give up ICC post

NEW DELHI, March 25: Sunil Gavaskar is all set to step down as ICC's cricket committee chairman after the governing body asked the former Indian captain to give up his other job of a commentator and columnist, which is in "direct conflict" with his duties in the ICC.

Watch: Gavaskar's ICC job in jeopardy

The issue was raised in the ICC's executive committee meeting in Dubai last week where members felt Gavaskar's dual roles were in conflict with each other and he should choose between the two.

However, the committee decided against removing Gavaskar as it felt it would be better to give him the option of deciding what he wants to do.

The former batsman will meet ICC CEO Malcolm Speed this week to take a final call on the issue.

"Gavaskar will meet CEO Malcolm Speed in Dubai this week to discuss this matter," An ICC spokesman said.

Gavaskar has lucrative deals as a television commentator and a newspaper columnist and this is likely to weigh on his mind when he decides on whether to continue as ICC's cricket committee chief.

The development comes close on the heels of his latest outburst in which he described England and Australia as "dinosaurs" unable to digest India's growing clout in the governing body's affairs.

A BCCI source said despite the outburst, the ICC wants to have Gavaskar on board.

"The ICC has lot of respect for Gavaskar and it does not want to take such a step of removing him. The ICC wants to have Gavaskar on board as cricket committee chairman," the source said.

Gavaskar, a celebrated right hander who has more 10,000 Test runs under his belt, took over as ICC cricket committee chairman from West Indian cricketer Clyde Walcott in June 2000.

He has been at the helm since then, getting an extension once but his never-ending outbursts against some of the ICC members like England and Australia have not gone down well with the ICC board.

ICC President-elect David Morgan had also expressed his concerns at Gavaskar's outspoken views.

"Conflicts of interests pervade our sport. In terms of Gavaskar, within the ICC, there is a concern now that he's chairman of the cricket committee and a journalist who has expressed some fairly outspoken comments," Morgan had said during India's tour of Australia this year after Gavaskar's scathing criticism of umpiring in the controversial Sydney Test.