As soon as Prithviraj Chavan popped up as a representative of a club affiliated with the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA),the writing was on the wall: the Maharashtra CM would contest for the MCA chiefs post. Also Read: MCA polls attract mixed bag Politicians at the helm of affairs is nothing new at the the MCA HQ,for the presidents chair has previously seated chief ministers like the late Vilasrao Deshmukh,Sharad Pawar and Manohar Joshi. For the last one year,Ravi Savant,a chartered accountant,has helmed the MCA. His ascension to the presidents chair was seen as a sign that it was now possible for a common professional (read: not a politician) to run a cricket association. Also Read: MCA groundstaff await reward Many present and former players and administrators had cried foul for years that politicians swamped the big posts,reducing them to the sidelines. But it was on their invitation that an array of politicians are now lining up for the mid-October polls. Since Savant took over as the MCA chief,there has been plenty of infighting among the high-profile Cricket Improvement Committee members. Some known names resigned,and the ambitious CIC was eventually disbanded. Also Read: Naming rights tussle: Sahara stadium to go by MCA name A big-name politician may have been able to minimise this sort of factionalism. But strong administrators dont necessarily have to come from a political background,as the likes of IS Bindra,Jagmohan Dalmiya and N Srinivasan have proved. The last one year was perhaps the best time for MCAs administration to prove their mettle,but apart from restructuring the Kanga league they have failed miserably. With the biennial MCA elections scheduled for October 18,the political heavyweights have emerged from the wings,egged on by the same administrators whove failed to perform their task. With big names from state politics coming in,its natural that these administrators will be sidelined. However,this time theyll struggle to pin the blame on anyone else for being bossed over. DEVENDRA PANDEY Devendra is a special correspondent based in Mumbai devendra.pandey@expressindia.com
