Srinivas Salver, the director of the USAC Male Player Committee, has been temporarily removed from his position on the Cricket Committee, which is the primary organisation responsible for monitoring cricket operations in the country. Following Salver’s alleged involvement in a public incident, in which he is believed to have physically assaulted a former player for the United States of America as well as a fellow club cricketer named Kenneth Nazareth, the suspension has been handed down.
The aforementioned incident took occurred on July 24 during a match that was part of the Northern California Cricket Association and featured the Stanford Cricket Club and the Sunnyvale Cardinals. Verma claims that Salver, along with a few other Stanford players, including himself, exchanged expletives in response to an incident involving a run out that occurred during Stanford’s innings and was started by Salver. The ruckus was brought to a halt by the intervention of the umpires. However, everything started to spiral out of control after Verma got rid of Salver in the second inning of the game.
Verma emphasises the fact that he sent a sendoff in the exact same style and language that Salver used in the first inning of the game. An enraged Salver grabbed Verma by the collar of his neck while simultaneously pinning down an intervening Nazareth, who was a member of Verma’s team. Cricbuzz attempted to get in touch with Salver to get his perspective on what happened, but he chose not to answer.
After a delay of four days, Verma reported the incident to the chair of the board’s cricket committee, Sushil Nadkarni, in an email that contained strong language. In the email, he demanded justice for Salver’s action and reported the occurrence. After Salver decided not to reply to Verma’s claims while they were being discussed in the board meeting on August 1st, Nadkarni made a proposal to temporarily suspend Salver during a board meeting the same day. Salver was given a temporary suspension after receiving a vote total of 5-2, with only Venu Pisike and Avinash Gaje opting to support Salver in this matter.
Cricbuzz has received a copy of the email in which USA Cricket Female Player director Nadia Gruny criticises Salver’s allegedly disruptive behaviour and sends it to the rest of the board of directors. Cricbuzz was able to read the communication. Gruny referred to the situation as “a very nasty and despicable reflection of leadership” in his assessment of the situation. She went on to say that it does not, in any way, reflect the intentions of this organisation, and she concluded her statement with that. This matter needs to be thought on in light of the stance that the board will take on issues. We are in a position of leadership for the sport in this country, and we want that quick action be made to put an end to this.
“As a whole, I am quite troubled by the fact that there is a culture of harassment and intimidation throughout this business. The abuse that has been going on at the highest levels of our business has led to this incident. In our company, we have zero tolerance for bullying or physical violence of any kind. When it comes to these issues, we need to immediately adopt a policy of zero tolerance. I am making a plea to the board to put a stop to the extremely harmful and abusive acts that are now being carried out.
Regardless, Salver was observed participating in the United States Women’s Under-19 team’s practise at the Lauderhill Stadium after the first Twenty20 international between India and the West Indies had concluded. To add fuel to the fire, two of the five directors who voted for Salver’s removal on Monday (Suraj Vishwanathan and Ajith Bhaskar) were unable to win re-election later in the week and have since been replaced by Atul Rai and Kuljit Nijjar. This has created even more confusion in the situation.
It is well knowledge that the official date for the handover of power will take place on August 15th. In the event that Salver seeks a new acquittal and the restoration of his committee membership, the onus of proof will likely be placed on the newly elected directors and Catherine Carlson (who chose to remain absent from the Salver hearing), as their vote will effectively determine the direction in which the pendulum swings.
