Johannesburg: Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) newly appointed chief executive Haroon Lorgat said Monday that he was ready to apologise to the powerful Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) if necessary.

Lorgat, during his stint as the chief executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC), had a tumultuous relation with the BCCI.

“India is an important stakeholder in cricket and, even from a personal perspective, I don’t like to be out of favour with someone who was once a friend of mine,” said Lorgat, who took over as CSA CEO on Saturday.
“I will do my best to go there and find out what their issue is, and apologise if I must.”
Lorgat was appointed by the CSA despite indications from the BCCI that they would not be happy with his appointment.

“I did what I thought was best for the game of cricket and, if I offended somebody in that process, I’ve got to understand what it is and they must understand why I did it.”

“The BCCI complained to the ICC and I let the independent ethics officer deal with it. If it was an issue where I had overstepped, or didn’t do right, then I know I must pay the price. Fortunately, the ethics officer dismissed the allegations,” he said.

Lorgat was critical of the BCCI wielding too much power and termed it as an unhealthy situation in world cricket.
“In any system, too much dominance by one party is not good but we should not begrudge strong people. We should be worrying and looking after those who are weaker. We should find ways and strategies for them to improve.

“Even for CSA, we cannot have a dependency mentality. All of us who are not as strong as the BCCI should aspire to be as strong as them,” he said.

Courtesy: CRICKET YAHOO