An administrator par excellence

Kolkata: BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya passed away in Kolkata on Sunday. His death plunged the cricket fraternity into a grief as reactions poured in from former cricketers and administrators condoling his demise. President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in mourning Dalmiya.

He will forever be remembered as the man who made Indian cricket a self sufficient entity and engineered a shift of power base from its spiritual home at Lord's to Kolkata's Eden Gardens.In his chequered administrative career, he saw it all: the good, the bad and the proverbial ugly.

If Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket was revolution that rocked the traditional cricket establishment of Australia, it was the astute business man from Kolkata, who understood the potential of India becoming commercially a global powerhouse of cricket.

His biggest gift to Indian cricket was to strike a multimillion television deal with World Tel in the early 90's that went a long way in making BCCI the richest cricketing body in the world. A shrewd tactician and someone who was at forefront of the BCCI numbers game, Dalmiya was the brain behind India co-hosting the Reliance World Cup in 1987 and then the Wills World Cup in 1996.

In his 35 year administrative career that started from being elected as Cricket Association of Bengal working committee member from Rajasthan Club, followed by being the treasurer and subsequently the secretary of the body.

A protege of former BCCI president BN Dutt, he became the treasurer in the mid 1980's and was known as the man who convinced NKP Salve to allow Eden Gardens host the Reliance Cup final at the Eden Gardens instead of Wankhede Stadium.

He along with friend tuirned foe Inderjit Singh Bindra also defeated the England and Australian block to win the bid for co-josting 1996 edition in India, pakistan and Sri Lanka, In 1997, he was elected unanimously as the president of the International Cricket Council (ICC). In 2001, he defeated AC Muttiah to become the BCCI president in one of the most pitched elections in Chennai.

In one of the most political BCCI fight, Dalmiya gave a casting vote in favour of his candidate Ranbir Singh Mahendra to defeat union minister and NCP heavyweight Sharad Pawar by a solitary vote. However the quartet of Pawar, N srinivasan, Shashank Manohar and Lalit Modi with the backing of Bindra came back next year to not only defeat Mahendra but also opened cases against him.

He was suspended from the BCCI in 2006 and also ousted from his home association. Dalmiya won a long legal battle and then again got his place in state association back. When the spot-fixing scandal broke, he was the first consensus candidate for interim president's post and earlier this year, he again emerged as the man who was found acceptable by one and all to take up the president's mantle.

For Dalmiya, cricket was more of a vocation as he was a wicketkeeper for his club Rajasthan. Once he knew that cricket as a career was not possible, he took keen interest in his family business set by father MN Dalmiya Constructions.In 1963, the company was instrumental in building the Birla Planetorium. While he earned plaudits as tough talking businessman, his love for the game never diminished.

He was especially close to BN Dutt, who was then emerging as a powerful figure in BCCI politics. However when Dalmiya sensed that the board needed political backing, he calculated his next move like a politician. In the year, 1990, however it was the disciple, who upset the master's applecart as he along with Rungta brothers Kishen and Kishore formed a faction that helped Madhavrao Scindia win an acrimonious election that ended Dutt's tenure in BCCI.

Since then, there was no stopping for the man from Kolkata's richest area New Alipore. He was virtually a 'One Man Show' for the next 15 years in the cricket board. While the Australia and England's cricket administrators were wary of him, they knew it was difficult to keep him away from the focus as India slowly and surely became the game's commercial hub.

His power was gauged by the fact the he forced the erstwhile South African board president Ali Bacher to withdraw Mike Denness from match referee's position after he alleged that India's Sachin Tendulkar had tampered with the ball during the Port Elizabeth Test match in 2001.

However in the early part of 2000, his longtime friend Bindra did not like his ways of running the board and became an adversary. It was also the time when Lalit Modi and N Srinivasan also harboured aspirations of having greater say in the board.

Having never lost an election in his public life, Pawar demolished Mahendra's challenge with a 20-10 verdict. It was 2005 and when Dalmiya's slide started. There were court cases galore, he was summoned on charges of financial irregularities concerning 1996 World Cup and in 2006, he was ousted in an Estraordinary GB meeting in Jaipur.

Subsequently, he had relinquish his CAB presidency to then Kolkata Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee. Dalmiya efeated Mukherjee 61-56. In fact once a sittting Police Commissioner with all his power and might lost against Dalmiya, it made CM Bhattacharjee make the now famous statement:"It was a victory of evil against good".

So even when Mukherjee took over from Dalmiya in early 2007, he had to relinquish the post very next year after the courts cleared him of any wrongdoing. He convingly defeated Mukherjee to get his presidency back and remained at the helm till he breathed his last.

However people close to him in CAB believe that those three years where he faced ignominy of financial irregularities, was ousted from the board and fought legal cases all over the country took its toll on its health and he was never the same man post 2008. By 2011, the sharpness that world associated with Dalmiya was not there.

From Srinivasan to Modi, Pawar to Manohar, whether they liked or disliked Dalmiya, one thing they knew was his ability to bring votes to the table. His third term as the president that started from March 2 this year was mostly marred by his ill-health. Jagmohan Dalmiya might have passed away but he had certainly left an ever-lasting legacy in Indian and world cricket administration.

Funeral with state honours today

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday condoled the death of BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya, and said the veteran cricket administrator will be accorded state honours. The 75-year-old president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), passed away around 9 p.m. in the city's B.M. Birla Hospital where he was admitted on Thursday after complaining of chest pain.

Dalmiya's funeral will take place on Monday at the Keoratala crematorium “Dalmiya's contribution to cricket cannot be described in words. It is really shocking to realise that he is no more. He was like a victorious king who fought valiantly in the field of cricket administration and today he left us but remained undefeated. He had so many dreams about world cup cricket. We will try to fulfil those dreams,” she said.