Dubai: After spending some time in the wilderness, former Indian cricket board strongman N. Srinivasan has emerged kingmaker — as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) gears up to stage its elections on October 22.
While the Lodha Committee recommendations would bar Srinivasan from becoming an office-bearer, he will still have a big say on who will be among the new faces to rule Indian cricket after being under the Supreme Court-appointed administrators for nearly two years.
Speaking to Gulf News, one of the state association officials said: “As of now, there are no other groups in the BCCI and Srinivasan is going about the job of bringing all states together. Maybe when the election time arrives, the equations may change and another group can emerge vying for power.”
As per the Committee of Administrators (CoA), all state associations who seek to comply with the Lodha Committee’s recommendations have to be complete their elections by September 14.
A total of 20 state cricket associations held a meeting in New Delhi a few days ago under the initiative of Srinivasan, who is also a former chairman of International Cricket Council (ICC).
It is learnt that even some of Srinivasan’s detractors have decided to toe his line and put an end to the CoA’s tenure.
The CoA is now a split body with chief Vinod Rai and co-member Diana Eduljee having differences of opinion on most issues.
Two other members, Vikram Limaye and Ramachandra Ghua, resigned citing a variety of reasons.
Going by the trend, a number of youngsters may surface to rule Indian cricket.
Most veteran officials cannot contest for the top posts — as per the Lodha committee recommendations — due to the number of years they have already served as office-bearers.
Former BCCI president Anurag Thakur, who has now become a minister in the Union government, will make his weight felt in the governing body, through his brother Arun Thakur, while late board supremo Jagmohan Dalmiya’s son Avishek Dalmiya may also be in a key post.
Jay Shah, the son of Home Minister and BJP President Amit Shah who has already been an office-bearer for three years with Gujarat Cricket Association, is out to flout the Lodha recommendations.
The trio of Thakur, Dalmiya and Shah were present at the New Delhi meeting.
Those assembled in New Delhi include the cricket associations of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Baroda, Saurashtra, Assam, Bengal, Sikkim, Manipur, Assam, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Former Indian cricketer-turned-administrator Brijesh Patel and Rajiv Shukla, commissioner of the Indian Premier League (IPL), were present.
Most state associations now feel that the CoA, which was created to ensure compliance with the Lodha Committee’s guidelines, is itself not compliant with the recommendations.
The associations are up in arms over CoA chief Rai’s recent decision to stop BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary from presiding over the Team India selection committee meeting.
The state bodies have also questioned the CoA’s authority to appoint a cricket committee — made up of Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy — to select the Team India coaches.
As per BCCI constitution, the state bodies say, only their general body has the right to create such a body.
The recommendations by the Lodha committee had earlier resulted in many politicians like Sharad Pawar, Shukla, Jyotiraditya Scinida and Ranjib Biswal being forced to resign.
They may hence aim to see their loyalists occupying plum posts among new BCCI office-bearers.
