Another nail in Dalmiya's coffin

Brijesh Patel, once a staunch Dalmiya loyalist, seems to have found favour with the present dispensation © Getty Images

At the working committee meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, two more nails, perhaps the final ones, were drilled into the coffin of Jagmohan Dalmiya, the former president of the Indian board and the ICC.

In a move that is widely being interpreted as a switching of loyalties, Brijesh Patel, a staunch Dalmiya loyalist, was given a post on a BCCI committee. And perhaps more damningly, the representative of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), Saradindu Pal, said that his association respected the board's decision to expel Dalmiya.

"The CAB's secretary (Pal) told the board's working committee today that the CAB respects the board's decision (taken at Jaipur on December 16) by 29 votes in favour to expel Mr Dalmiya," N Srinivasan, the board's treasurer, and a man seen to be one of the driving forces behind the current regime's efforts to see the back of Dalmiya, told reporters in Mumbai.

"He [Pal] also said that Mr Dalmiya no longer functions as its president and an emergency meeting has been convened on the 27th (January) to take steps to implement the BCCI's decision," Srinivasan said. With this, it appears that Dalmiya's fate in cricket administration in India is all but sealed, for the moment, at least.

Equally significant was the fact that Patel, the former Test batsman and currently president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association, was named on a BCCI committee. Outside of Bengal he was one of the few Dalmiya loyalists, and it was no coincidence that he was the only prominent member of the board not to get a posting in any of the board's 20-odd committees in the last AGM.

Patel is on the newly formed committee that will decide on how to disburse the funds the BCCI has allocated towards the development of other sports in India. He is joined on this committee by MP Pandove of Punjab and Major SS Alhuwalia from the Services. It's worth noting that no Ranji matches of either Karnataka or Bengal were to be telecast live when the BCCI announced its plans for the coverage of the current domestic season. Karnataka remains one of the marquee teams in the domestic competition and Bengal were runners-up last year, and yet it was decided that none of their games would be shown live.

Patel's return to the fold helped along by the fact that a committee needed to be formed to decide on the requests from Abhinav Bindra, the shooter, and Karan Rastogi the Indian Davis Cup team member and upcoming tennis star, seeking financial assistance from the BCCI. The board had received these requests in writing from the players themselves and not through the respective sporting federations. It was then decided that the financial assistance would be disbursed directly to players who were in with a chance of Olympic medals. Although no formal policy has been laid down by the BCCI on how this will happen, the formation of a committee to deliberate on the issue is the first step towards concrete action.

With regard to more routine matters, it was decided cricket will not be a part of the 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi. The working committee meeting of the board cited the Indian team's packed fixtures as the main reason. "The working committee discussed the invitation to take part in the 2010 Commonwealth Games and felt that the Future Tours Programme as it stands now is too crowded and would not lend itself to participate in the Games," Srinivasan said.

The meeting also decided to form a committee to finalise the parameters for the players' contracts. The committee comprises Inderjit Singh Bindra, president of the Punjab Cricket Association, Shashank Manohar, vice-president of the board, Niranjan Shah, honorary secretary of the BCCI, Ratnakar Shetty, the administrative head and Srinivasan. "At this moment I can't say what the parameters will be but we will try to find the right balance," said Srinivasan. "The board members were concerned with the performance of the team and felt that players should be motivated to do well."

The meeting also did not discuss the nomination of Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, for the post of ICC president. However, Cricinfo has learned that the BCCI is "more likely to nominate than not nominate" Pawar for the post, by the January 1, 2007 deadline, in the words of a source. When the BCCI held the CK Nayudu awards on November 4, the same day it inaugurated its new offices at the Wankhede Stadium, representatives of appoximately 20 associate members of the ICC were invited to attend and a "majority" of them accepted and were present.