Dalmiya and team have tough challenges ahead
The return of Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya as the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India will hopefully mark a new phase in cricket administration in the country. Deservedly or undeservedly, the BCCI has received much flak in recent years for being managed in a non-transparent and unaccountable, if not downright dishonest, manner. A slew of scandals pointing to the involvement of senior members in impropriety has tarnished the Board's reputation.
To some extent, these have also damaged the Indian public's faith in cricket, which, as is commonly acknowledged, is much more than just a game or a sport in this country. As Mr Dalmiya takes charge at the helm, his biggest challenge will be restoring this faith and returning Indian cricket to the pedestal it once occupied in the hearts and minds of cricketing fans. The Indian Premier league, for example, is losing sheen with match-fixing allegations having taken much of the thrill out of the sport.
Also, the Indian team's performance abroad has not always been up to the mark and is becoming a real sore point with fans. Within the BCCI, Mr Dalmiya will be expected to bring about administrative and management changes so as to ensure that the Board is not dragged into the kind of controversies it has recently had to face.
Few can deny that Mr Dalmiya has enormous experience in cricket administration. During his first stint as president between 2001 and 2004, the Kolkata-based businessman, who at that time had just completed his tenure as chief of the International Cricket Council, helped the BCCI become the financial powerhouse that it is today. Yes, it is true that in the process, he also had to face corruption charges (related to the 1997 World Cup that India co-hosted), but few will contest that Mr Dalmiya has done more good for Indian cricket than harm. Of course, in this past decade, much has changed within the BCCI and also within Indian cricket in general, but there's reason to hope that Mr Dalmiya will navigate these with aplomb.
This is not to say that his tenure will be a cakewalk, but at least he can count on the support of the top leadership for the time being. Mr Dalmiya was elected to the president's post unopposed and at least four of the five other senior office-bearers who were elected alongside, are known to be from his ‘camp'. Notably, the BCCI presidency marks a personal victory for Mr Dalmiya as well.
After lording over the BCCI until 2004 (and for a year afterward by proxy), Mr Dalmiya was expelled from the board in 2006 over corruption charges and also removed from the president's post at the Cricket Association of Bengal, which was his home turf and where he had only months earlier won an election against the then Chief Minister's nominee. The situation started changing slowly in 2007 when he was exonerated by the court and re-instated as the CAB chief. Now,matters have come full circle.