'Spare the CAB', Dalmiya tells Indian board

Jagmohan Dalmiya, the newly-elected president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has appealed to the BCCI not to let its fractious relationship with him affect his state association. Dalmiya has had a long-standing feud with the current BCCI administration, when he was arrested and later released on bail on charges of embezzlement relating to the 1996 World Cup.

Dalmiya, a former president of both the ICC and the BCCI, defeated the incumbent, Prasun Mukherjee, to secure a seat on the Indian board on Tuesday.

"There are two facades of cricket administration - collective and individual. At the collective level, the CAB doesn't deserve to suffer because of my relationship with the board," Dalmiya told the Indian Express. "My message to them (BCCI) is - spare the CAB. Leave the state association alone. As the CAB president, I believe all state associations should cooperate with and listen to the board. But at an individual level, they are welcome to fight me. It is nothing new to me anyway."

After being ousted from the BCCI in 2006, he had an 18-month layoff from cricket administration, but Dalmiya said the determination to clear his name of all charges prompted him to contest the elections.

"A lot of charges were made against me, one after another," he said. "They (BCCI) tried to malign me with false charges. I had two options - either fight it out, or plain give up. I made up my mind that I would fight it out and get my name cleared of all those charges. That's because what was at stake was not just my own name, but the image and standing of my family members, and all my business associates."

Now back at the helm, Dalmiya said his aim was to improve the standard of Bengal cricket, after a poor Ranji season.

"We all know Bengal lost its Elite Group status in the Ranji Trophy last season. So I have to work out things to pull Bengal out of the Plate Division. For this, I have specific plans in mind but I want to discuss them with the CAB working committee first."