Ready to mend fences with BCCI: Dalmiya

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA

July 30: Jagmohan Dalmiya finally took the throne of the CAB president here on Wednesday after 18 long months in the wilderness. But Dalmiya will have his task cut out for him even though he literally wiped out incumbent Prasun Mukherjee at Tuesday’s annual elections.

Not only has he to bring back the glory days of Bengal cricket, which is currently in doldrums following relegation from the Ranji Trophy Elite group, the ‘tedious’ task of acquiring the grants and subsidies from the BCCI too awaits him. Nevertheless, having challenged the BCCI ban and then triumphing in the state association, the former ICC boss is ready to take on the men in Mumbai.

"I am always ready to mend fences with the board. Now, if they have anything against me, they should treat the matter individually and take me on. Why should the entire association suffer?" was his first reaction.

It is learnt that no one from the BCCI wished Dalmiya after his comeback victory. "I won the elections just yesterday and not even 24 hours have passed since,"he said.

Meanwhile, the board is bent on protraying an indifferent attitude to Dalmiya’s return. "What difference does it make to BCCI? A state association will have its new president who has been voted to power by the members. That’s all," a senior board official told this newspaper.

So, is the BCCI then ready to grant CAB the Rs 80 crores for the proposed cricket academy? The official paused for a while, and then, simply ducked the issue, while emphasising the parent body’s ‘supposed’ indifference.

Dalmiya also showed interest in taking the support of Sourav Ganguly for the betterment of cricket in Bengal. "Not only is he the former India captain, he has excellent cricketing sense as well. There’s no reason as to why we shouldn’t seek his assistance," he said on Tuesday.

A source close to the former India captain however, reiterated that Ganguly would think twice before playing for Bengal now that "people who maligned his family’s image" are set to dictate terms in the state association.