The glorious uncertainties of cricket have thrown up several great stories in the field of play. But it was at a five-star hotel in Chennai that this stunning episode played out on Monday.
The fascinating story of Jagmohan Dalmiya’s unopposed election as president of the BCCI is definitely one of the glorious uncertainties.
Ten years ago, Dalmiya had tried to put up a game fight at the Board’s postponed AGM in Kolkata, as Sharad Pawar, Lalit Modi, N. Srinivasan and Shashank Manohar forged an alliance to counter him. Then, the foursome had succeeded in scripting Dalmiya’s ouster, and putting up Pawar as BCCI President.
In an unbelievable turnaround in fortunes, Dalmiya, who had first held the reins from 2001-04, was elected president again on Monday. And, under a changed BCCI constitution, he will hold office for three straight years, until September 2017.
After the 2005 election, the new dispensation had filed a civil suit against him for the recovery of Rs.46 crore allegedly embezzled from the PILCOM fund created for the 1996 World Cup.
Then, in September 2010, the BCCI withdrew the case at Arun Jaitley’s advice, reasoning that the BCCI was not keen on spending crores on litigation.
On the same day, the BCCI had also revoked a four-year ban imposed on Dalmiya, prompting him to say: “I have, all along, been committed to the fair administration of the game of cricket. I would like to thank the BCCI and its members for acting fairly.”
After returning to the fold under those circumstances, Dalmiya was even made interim-president while the incumbent Srinivasan was caught in the vortex of a PIL in the Supreme Court.
The last time Dalmiya was BCCI president, the Board worked out of a ramshackle office in the North Stand of the Brabourne Stadium.
As he begins his second term as elected President, this time from the swanky new office in the Mumbai Cricket Association’s premises on ‘D’ Road, Churchgate, he will perhaps permit himself a hearty laugh in the satisfaction of having truly outwitted those who had brought him down in 2005.
