Ganguly's new board game

Sourav Ganguly is the Prince of Kolkata but he could be looking elsewhere for a way to become the Badshah of the BCCI. A report in Hindustan Times suggests that Ganguly is looking at the eastern state of Tripura as a means of getting nominated to the national cricket board, the first necessary step to being elected BCCI president. The rotating presidency comes to the East Zone – to which Tripura and Bengal are both affiliated – in 2014, and Ganguly needs to put in some time on the national board before that. He already holds a post with the Cricket Association of Bengal – as chairman of its development committee – but is unlikely to get a nomination from the relatively high-profile state. And, as the report mentions, Tripura is on better terms with the current BCCI establishment than is Jagmohan Dalmiya, the confrontationist, controversial Bengal chief.

Meanwhile, the Tripura Cricket Association (TCA) has reacted strongly to the speculation. "There is not even a fraction of truth in this...it's purely baseless and without any logic," TCA secretary Arindam Ganguly told PTI. "I will represent our association in the BCCI AGM. I don't understand why everybody is speculating about Sourav."

Ganguly the captain never set much store by parochialism – looks like he’s in the same groove as an administrator. Which leaves just one question – whatever will Kolkata do without its Prince?