Jagmohan Dalmiya - the players' administrator
Tributes to Jagmohan Dalmiya after the BCCI president died, aged 75, in Kolkata, on September 20, 2015
ESPNcricinfo staff
22-Sep-2015
Speaking to Vijay Tagore of the Mumbai Mirror, Sachin Tendulkar recalls the influence of Jagmohan Dalmiya, calling him the players' administrator.
He was among the first to call me on hearing the news of my father's demise in 1999 (during the World Cup in England). It was a very touching gesture. He was the president of the ICC then and he wanted to make sure I did not have trouble dealing with the tragedy. It meant a lot.
Mr Dalmiya was truly special to me. All along, he was very helpful, not just to me but for all the cricketers. Whenever there was an issue with the players, he would take special interest to ensure the players' point of view was factored in in the discussions. He cared about cricket and cricketers. Deep within, he was a players' administrator.
In the Hindu, Suresh Menon pays tribute to the manner in which Dalmiya changed international cricket, leading the self-respect movement in the boardrooms of cricket administration.
He influenced India's approach to cricket and also the manner in which fans used it as a measure of self-worth. A match referee's decision could become a national insult.
Dalmiya's methods may have lacked universal appeal, his motives often put down to "colonial resentment" but there is no denying that he changed the face of international cricket. What Tiger Pataudi did on-field, leading the self-respect movement, Dalmiya did in the board rooms, forcing respect from countries long used to looking down upon Indian cricket.
Writing for the Indian Express, Harsha Bhogle describes how Dalmiya's tenacity and ruthlessness revolutionised cricket administration.
Much has been written about his role in the 1987 World Cup. India had no choice but to get it right given the bad blood that had accompanied its exit from England that believed it had a right to host it every time. The India of 1987 was incomparable to the India of 2015. Hotels were limited and sometimes basic. There was only one airline and it was both arrogant and inefficient. And there were people waiting for the tournament to fail. It didn't. It was a high point in the running of Indian cricket
But his finest hour came in 1993 when he took on the establishment over the awarding of television rights.
Pradeep Magazine in the Hindustan Times recalls how Dalmiya's galvanized public opinion around India during the Mike Denness controversy in 2001, making it a test case for India to prove its new-found power in world cricket.
India refused to play the next Test, and even threatened cancellation of England's next tour to India, if the ban against Sehwag was not overturned. The world may have cowered under this threat, calling it blackmailing tactics, but Dalmiya had galvanized the entire Indian public opinion behind him. Reading the newspapers of that time, you would have almost believed India was fighting a second war of independence, the only difference being that cricket had become the new battlefield. And the war cry that the colonial White world will not be allowed to have its way and in this new world order 'justice' will have to prevail, had its resonance all across the third world countries, even where cricket was not played.
Ashok Malik in the Enonomic Times explains how Dalmiya changed the landscape of Indian cricket administration, which was earlier run by politicians or retired players.
Jagmohan Dalmiya was cut of different flannel. He didn't just live at the cusp of cricket's modern era, he more or less defined it. He didn't just oversee a transition in the game, he invented it. He was the most influential cricket official and entrepreneur between Kerry Packer and Lalit Modi, and his impact may have been greater.
He sensed one-day cricket could be shipped to smaller centres across the country -- in comparison to Test matches that were limited to four or five big cities -- and become a money machine. Taking cricket politics out of the domain of party loyalties and even traditional foreign policy, he forged alliances within the BCCI and coalitions at the International Cricket Council (ICC).