Controversies are a part and parcel of both Bollywood and Cricket – the two most-loved topics in India. And this time, the two are at crossroads. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary has raised objections to the appointment of the Board’s new General Manager (Marketing) Priya Gupta. And the reason will definitely clean bowl you. Among various reasons, he has also cited a 2014 article written by Gupta on Bollywood star Deepika Padukone.

As reported, Gupta, who used to work with The Times Of India, had written an article in 2014 hitting out at Deepika. In his email sent to BCCI CEO Rahul Johri, and copied to the Committee of Administrators (CoA) and other BCCI officials, Amitabh has made mention of another article that described Gupta’s take on the actress as ‘Slut-shaming Deepika Padukone.’

Amitabh has refused to sign the appointment letter of Gupta and also questioned her lack of experience in handling such a high-profile job. Choudhary wrote: “A simple search on the internet, revealed the following stories mentioning the candidate selected for the post we are presently concerned with, regarding an article that the person authored, the content of which is for everyone to see.”

The controversy took place when TOI had tweeted Deepika Padukone’s video with the caption: “OMG! Deepika Padukone’s cleavage show”. The actress had hit back by saying, “YES! I am a Woman. I have breasts AND a cleavage! You got a problem!!??”

Defending TOI, Gupta, back then had written an article with the headline: “Dear Deepika, our point of view…” In this article, Gupta had criticised Deepika Padukone, calling her a hypocrite.  She further added, “Deepika, just for the record, we do not zoom into a woman’s vagina or show her nipples… What about all the times, and there have been many, when you have flaunted your body off screen — while dancing on stage, posing for magazine covers, or doing photo ops at movie promotional functions? What ‘role’ do you play there? So why the hypocrisy?”

Amitabh, in his mail, questioned the flawed selection process and stated that even a basic internet search revealed ‘the following stories mentioning the candidate selected for the post we are presently concerned with, regarding an article that the person authored, the content of which is for everyone to see’.

For the uninitiated, if new role falls in Gupta’ kitty, she will be paid Rs 1.65 crore per year by the BCCI!