Dalmiya dilemma — Will he crack the whip on CAB?

NEW DELHI, FEB 21: In cricketing circles it is whispered that there is no greater craftsman or politician than Jagmohan Dalmiya. It was h...

NEW DELHI, FEB 21: In cricketing circles it is whispered that there is no greater craftsman or politician than Jagmohan Dalmiya. It was he in tandem with his once-friend, Inderjit Singh Bindra, who brought the World Cup to the sub-continent, when the rest of the countries did everything to stop that. He then thumbed his nose at the English to take over the International Cricket Council after a bitter battle. But his biggest battle yet, could be when he is forced to sit in judgement on himself! It will be interesting to see how Jagmohan Dalmiya, the ICC President, deals with Jagmohan Dalmiya, the President of the Cricket Association of Bengal, which has now failed on not one but two big occasions.

True, it may not be CAB’s fault that the crowd went berserk, but in the past centres have been penalised for similar behaviour, or for poor wickets, poor facilities and so on. Ahmedabad was penalised for poor crowd behaviour and Indore for poor wicket. What then happens to the CAB and its pretty Eden?That’s whatDalmiya has to mull over for the next few days. The English, the Australians and all others, who never really wanted Dalmiya in the ICC boss’ chair, would be watching with bated breath.

Further, does the CAB’s current committee have any moral right to continue after what happened at the Eden Gardens on Friday and Saturday? Again that is something Dalmiya will need to tell Dalmiya. And it is not going to be easy. Or will Dalmiya, the ICC President send a letter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which in turn must be sent to CAB?There couldn’t have been greater irony, for even as the Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif readied himself to meet the Indian PM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, arriving by the Delhi-Lahore bus, in the full glare of hundreds of cameramen, scribes and public, a couple of thousand kilometres away, a cricket Test match between the two countries was being completed in camera. And to think, till a few weeks back we were all talking about cricket and hockey being used as the catalystfor improving relations between the two countries. There were just about 500 people, inclusive of the officials, players, journalists, ground staff and guests. The remainder of the 100,000 who had been part of the Test were driven out of the stadium, lest they create further trouble.

More than the 10 deliveries that were bowled in eerie silence with no one in the stands, what will probably stand out as the most chilling frame of the entire match was that of the grim-faced Sachin Tendulkar being led around the ground by the ICC President Jagmohan Dalmiya, the previous evening. Tendulkar who, most tragically had been run out minutes earlier — make no mistake, it was a legitimate dismissal and the obstruction by Shoaib Akhter was most certainly not willful — was clearly forced into coming out with Dalmiya, to pacify the crowd.

The next day, the same crowd had to be driven out the stadium to ensure that Calcutta did not have another abandoned’ put against its name. Remember, the abandoned India-Sri LankaWorld Cup semi-final? And now a Test match came close to it. Surely, the CAB or its president or the ICC could not allow that.

Calcutta’s Eden Garden, has lost all right to conduct any international match. Now or ever. And India, on Saturday not only lost a match, but also face and significant political brownie points. Pakistan came to India in the face of a threat, played under severe strain and finally in camera. What’s more they drew a series and then won the first-ever Asian Test Championships game.