MUMBAI: We’ve already offered our view on the “unanimous election” of Rupa Gurunath as president of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) in Chennai on Thursday.
Now seeing the unsavoury goings on in other BCCI state affiliates for their respective elections, Ms Gurunath’s election comes across as extraordinary only becuase of her gender. Otherwise, As The Print noted while offering an accounting of the shenanigans, it’s the same old story of nepotism ruling the roost.
1. Friday saw Arun Thakur, younger brother of former BCCI president Anurag Thakur, now a Union minister, elected president of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association.
2. Earlier, Jaydev, the son of former BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, who has been the face of the Saurashtra Cricket Association for decades was elected SCA president.
3. Veteran Goa administrator Vinod Phadke’s son, Vipul, is the secretary of the Goa Cricket Association.
4. BCCI vice-president Chirayu Amin’s son, Pranav, is a candidate for the Baroda Cricket Association president’s post.
5. The Gujarat Cricket Association, which boasts the second most powerful man in the country – Union Home Minister Amit Shah – as its president, till recently had Shah’s son son Jay as a joint secretary.
6. Former BCCI president Ranbir Singh Mahendra’s son, Anirudh Chaudhry, directly called the shots in the Haryana Cricket Association till the Supreme Court order on 18 July 2016. It is inconceivable that Anirudh, who is the BCCI treasurer, will not indirectly still control the affiliated unit.
7. In Madhya Pradesh, it has seen the rule of the Scindias.
8. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who has just been re-elected Cricket Association of Bengal president, and Avishek Dalmiya, became office-bearers in the CAB after the demise of their respective fathers. And taking the nepotism story to fresh heights as it were, Debashish Ganguly (Sourav’s cousin) is CAB treasurer and Snehashish Ganguly (Sourav’s brother) is set to assume a prime post. It bears noting that Sourav is by far the most conflicted of all the former cricketers holding positions of power in India’s cricket establishment considering the number of “cricketing pies” he has his fingers in.
The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), meanwhile, is reportedly set to elect Roger Binny as its next president after the Brijesh Patel-backed group finalised the former India cricketer for the top post. Exceptions prove the rule?
