“Asian tiger twists Lord’s by the tail,” The Times reporting on India winning the 1996 World Cup hosting rights defeating favorite England. This was made possible by ‘Machiavelli’ of Indian cricket Jagmohan Dalmiya the man who commercialized cricket. He played a decisive role along with N Salve to host the 1987 and 1996 world cup in the Indian subcontinent. He backed the Indian Cricket Team during the Mike Denness incident of 2001. The major contribution was to save cricket from bankruptcy, played a crucial role in granting test status to Bangladesh. The businessman son was born on 30th May 1940 in Kolkata and started as a CAB representative in 1979. He rose to BCCI treasurer in 1983, then as a secretary. In 1997 he was elected as the ICC president, then became BCCI president in 2001 and held the post for three years. He was expelled in 2006, then serve as an interim president in 2013.
The shrewd politician won the race for the 1987 World Cup final or rather snatch it away from Mumbai and Delhi.
“He has a vision for the game’s progress that I haven’t heard enunciated by any other so-called leader among cricket officials.” ~ Ian Chappell on Dalmiya
The 1996 World cup hosting rights was a crucial point in Indian cricket history in his own words to Sri Lanka Cricket Board secretary Neil Perera “Without your crucial role at the ICC meeting in London on February 2, 1993, the ‘cake’ perhaps would not have come to this sub-continent,”
Perera recalls “Nelson Mandela had been released from the jail and he rang up president Ranasinghe Premadasa and wanted our support for South Africa in their bid to host the World Cup. At the meeting, England too put its bid forward. South Africa and England got four votes each, while Pakistan voted for itself. The meeting was temporarily adjourned and I approached the Pakistan Cricket Board president General Khan and told him that since Pakistan didn’t have much of a hope, he should bid with us and India. He agreed and when the members voted again, South Africa pulled out. Our bid got five votes and England managed four but we needed two-third majority. A compromise was made with England opting to back out on the condition that it should get the World Cup in 1999. Similarly, South Africa demanded hosting rights for the 2003 World Cup and the matter was resolved.”
BCCI president apart from Dalmiya from IS Bindra the Godfather of the Indian Cricket Team to Shashank Manohar have kept sport clean. He cleared ICC mandatory policy of administrative control over the ground by just a call to then Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi.
The BCCI was founded in 1928 with British industrialist Grant Govan as its first President and Anthony de Mello as secretary.Over the years many eminent buisnessmen and politicians headed this post notably P Subbarayan the longest ever serving President of BCCI.
IS Bindra”the bearded gladiator” was unarguably the greatest one who held this post. He was a visionary and godfather of Indian cricket. Bindra along with Jagmohan Dalmiya revolutionized the way BCCI – Board Of Control For Cricket In India functions and made it a global organization. He unlike Dalmiya was not charged with corruption and mishandling of funds. The major contribution of Dalmiya was to commercialize cricket and brought funds in sport. Mr. Dalmiya was criticized for the “illegitimate stop-gap” arrangement. The other iconic personalities associated were Raj Singh Dungarpur, N. K. P. Salve, and Shashank Manohar. Rajdhani amended CCI rules to allow Sachin Tendulkar to use the dressing room and headed the selection panel that chose Little master for the 1989 Pakistan tour. Salve played a pivotal role in hosting the 1987 World Cup in the Indian subcontinent for the first time. Shashank Manohar will be known for his clean image and administrative cum authoritative skill. The other prominent personalities were A. C. Muthiah and Pawar.
Some of the top five BCCI presidents
IS Bindra
Jagmohan Dalmiya
Raj Singh Dungarpur
N. K. P. Salve
Shashank Manohar