Ranjib Biswal has finally made it. After narrowly missing out on the Board secretary post at the 2010 AGM, the Orissa Cricket Association chief became the Indian Premier League chairman on Sunday. The top IPL job had been earmarked for someone with political affiliation after Congress leader Rajiv Shukla quit in the wake of the IPL spot-fixing scandal. But Biswal, son of former Odisha deputy chief minister Basant Kumar Biswal, got the nod only after a raging debate. He edged out big names such as G.R. Vishwanath and Jagmohan Dalmiya. Like in 2010, Biswal faced stiff oppositions from his very own East Zone affiliates, but N. Srinivasan had the final say. The Odisha official is a loyalist of Srinivasan and has been the Indian team as manager on several occasions including the Men in Blue’s 2011 World Cup triumph at home. After bagging the high-profile IPL post, the former first-class all-rounder has made way for Kerala’s T.C. Mathew as the chairman of the National Cricket Academy Board. “He couldn’t get the secretary post in 2010 because of back-room manoeuvrings and zonal politics. Srinivasan threw his weight behind his candidature but even he couldn’t help him then. The NCA post was just a compromise,” said a BCCI official. With a petition against him filed by Cricket Association of Bihar still pending at the Supreme Court, Srinivasan ensured his loyalists were happy men at the end of the AGM. He also succeeded in removing those belonging to the rival camp. Dalmiya, who came in as interim president when Srinivasan stepped aside amidst pressure, has been named the chairman of the new North East Development Committee after failing to get the IPL job. The 73-year-old is reportedly not so pleased. He, however, played down the issue. “I was BCCI president as well as ICC president. I have spent time in high offices,” Dalmiya said. BJP leader and Delhi and Districts Cricket Association chief Arun Jaitley is set to keep away from the day-to-day affairs of the BCCI to focus on the upcoming parliament elections. Apart from handing over his vice-president post to his DDCA colleague S.P. Bansal, he has also opted out of Tour Programme and Fixtures Committee and Disciplinary Committee. The fate of the South Africa tour is still hanging in the balance as the issue never came up for discussion in the AGM. Shukla, the newly-appointed chairman of the Tour Programme and Fixtures Committee, said a meeting has been convened on October 3 to decide the venues for the West Indies Tour and the fate of SA Tour. As a result of the IPL spot-fixing scandal after Season 6, an Anti-Corruption and Security Committee has been constituted. Amitabh Choudhary, a former ADGP of Jharkhand, will chair it.
