BCCI elections are always overhyped. Sometimes the hype even crosses the level of Lok Sabha and Assembly Elections. It is impossible to make out who is supporting whom, who is foe and who is friend. N. Srinivasan joined hands with Sharad Pawar and Ranbir Singh Mahendra to dethrone Jagmohan Dalmiya in 2004 and now 10 years later Srinivasan seconding Dalmiya is indeed unpredictable. Isn’t it?
Unless Sharad Pawar is certain that he is going to win the election, he won’t contest it and that’s what exactly happened. It’s nothing new. Every time during BCCI elections we see such mutual understandings or adjustments. I would term it old wine in new bottle.
Indian cricket has reached an abysmal low with so much of judicial introspection and legal obligations and it is highly important to regain the integrity of the game. Officials need to plan and act so that they can earn back the faith of cricket lovers, like me, who follow the sport. Why do we need a Supreme Court to intervene when there is a Board and its legal bodies and guidelines? The first priority of the board should be ensuring the fans that they are following a clean sport.
Now the newly elected President is not someone new to BCCI, neither is he a politician. He has proved himself in numerous occasions. It was Dalmiya along with I S Bindra who won the rights for hosting World Cup in South Asia. When he joined BCCI it was not a very rich body, but when he left, BCCI was the richest cricket board of the world. His contribution to ICC is also of very high standard. Overall he is a veteran cricket administrator, who has adequate knowledge of the sport. He has all the potential to repair the damage done; he did it in the past too. Indian cricket was brutally affected by match fixing in 1999 -2000 but he got people’s faith back to the game. I have high expectations from Jagmohan Dalmiya as a liberal and unbiased cricket analyst and I hope he delivers. I will end with a comparison, Jagmohan Dalmiya is Rocky Balboa of India, no matter how much you try to pin him down he always gets up to deliver the knockout blow.
(These are purely personal views of Former first class cricketer and a veteran cricket analyst Hemant Kenkre and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)
