M A I N   N E W S

game Shame 
Will try my best to clean up cricket, promises Dalmiya
MS Unnikrishnan/TNS

New Delhi, June 3
Jagmohan Dalmiya, who was authorised to look after the day-to-day affairs of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at its emergency meeting in Chennai yesterday, said he would spare no effort to clean up the mess that Indian cricket was mired in. “We will try to overcome the situation that we are in,” Dalmiya said.

“I will leave no stone unturned to maintain the good name of cricket. We are passing through a difficult time,” noted the veteran administrator. “No one can deny the image of cricket has been tarnished, but we can either cry over spilt milk or do something about it,” he said.

The former BCCI and International Cricket Council (ICC) chief has come back to the top post in the cricket body as its interim head as N Srinivasan has stepped aside to facilitate an impartial enquiry into the spot-fixing scandal, involving his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan. He said he had not set any timeline for the probe panel’s report.

BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale and treasurer Ajay Shirke have not withdrawn their resignations so far.

“Sanjay Jagdale has no intention to withdraw his resignation. We have not received any communication from Ajay Shirke. I tried to talk to him. We will wait for some time,” Dalmiya said in his first media interaction after the BCCI emergency meeting.

He said all members in the BCCI meeting had requested Jagdale and Shirke to carry on. “However, Shirke and Jagdale were difficult…24-hours time was given to them to reconsider,” he added.

He said if there was a vacancy in the BCCI (in case both Jagdale and Shirke stick to their resignations), “it will be filled”.

Dalmiya said this was not a comeback for him at the helm of the BCCI. “It is temporary. One cannot shy away from responsibility,” he said. But the shrewd administrator did not rule out the possibility of coming back to the BCCI as its formal chief. “Who has seen the future? Let us get out of our present situation,” he said.

Though technically Srinivasan continues to be the BCCI president, Dalmiya said he would take a call whether to attend the ICC meetings as a BCCI representative as “I am entitled, it is my choice”.

“A decision will be taken on who will represent the BCCI in the ICC,” he said. Dalmiya denied he had advised Srinivasan not to resign under duress. “Who am I to say this or that? I have nothing to do. Why will one listen to me,” he said, making it clear that he was not “defending anybody”.

“I have not taken sides on Srinivasan resigning or anyone’s side. I have not spoken to anyone on the issue, not even Srinivasan. This matter was not discussed in the Saturday dinner party (before the IPL final in Kolkata),” Dalmiya clarified.

“Srinivasan may have the numbers with him, and that could be the reason why he has not stepped down,” Dalmiya said, adding “if Srinivasan knew he was short of even one vote or had doubts, he would have walked away”.

Dalmiya said instead of asking Srinivasan to resign, people should use this opportunity to clean up cricket. He said the panel appointed to probe the spot-fixing scandal was “very, very good” and he saw no wrong in two of the judges in the panel belonging to the South.

And he also saw no logic why a three-member panel was needed to “clean up cricket”. Regarding the spot-fixing scandal, which unfolded when three Rajasthan Royals players, including Sreeshanth, were exposed for fixing, Dalmiya said spot-fixing was a relative term.

“It needs to be discussed. To clean up cricket, make people feel what’s clean and what’s purely entertainment. People know what is clean and what is not clean in cricket,” he added. He said he was pained to see cricket being maligned, and he did not want the IPL to be given a clean chit at this point in time. The IPL should be “stopped temporarily, if need be”.