Gavaskar steps down from ICC role

Gavaskar is known for his strong opinions on cricketing matters

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has quit as chairman of the International Cricket Council's cricket committee after eight years in the job.

He was asked to choose between his role and working as a media pundit amid concerns about a conflict of interest.

"It has been extremely fulfilling to be able to give back to the game.

"But with more and more cricket being played it has become clear that it is not possible for me to do justice to two jobs," Gavaskar said.

"I envisaged the potential for this sort of issue two years ago and intimated then that I was not able to continue in the role but when I was asked to do so I was honoured to be re-elected.

"Now, however, it is clear I cannot combine both roles and therefore I am relinquishing the chair of the ICC cricket committee," he added.

The 58-year-old is renowned for pulling no punches in his newspaper columns.

In 2002, he called England the "champion whingers of the world" after they complained about practice facilities in India.

And at the start of this year, Gavaskar accused match referee Mike Procter of being biased against Indians after Harbhajan Singh was found guilty of racially abusing Andrew Symonds following a Test match in Australia.

In March, he called England and Australia "dinosaurs still trying to voice their prejudiced opinions in the media" in response to India's growing influence in the modern game.

As a result, he was summoned to a meeting with then ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed to discuss the matter

Despite that, Dave Richardson, the ICC's current acting CEO, praised Gavaskar for his work, saying: "He has brought his vast experience of the game to bear."

He added: "Having someone of Sunil's stature involved has to be of benefit to the game and given the ICC's lengthy relationship with him we hope we can still utilise his knowledge in some other capacity in the future."

During his playing career, Gavaskar appeared in 125 Tests and 108 one-day internationals for India, and was a member of the 1983 World Cup-winning side.

He was the first batsman to score 10,000 Test runs and still lies fifth in the all-time list behind Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Allan Border and Steve Waugh.

In his ICC role, he was in charge of one of the world governing body's most important committees, which is responsible for discussing and making recommendations on any cricket-playing matters.