With BJP support, Pawar pads up for 2nd innings

KOLKATA/MUMBAI: The wait is finally over. After week-long parleys behind the scenes, former ICC and BCCI president Sharad Pawar has succeeded in winning the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party for the BCCI elections on March 2. It all but paves the way for him to head India's cricket administration for a second term.
The stage was set for Pawar's 'second coming' earlier itself, when the Supreme Court restricted 'exiled' N Srinivasan's role at Monday's AGM to a mere guest appearance.Srinivasan has been categorically told that he can attend the meeting only as a representative of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), and that too only to cast his vote.
In such a scenario, it's unlikely that he can field dummy candidates and try to run the board by proxy.
Interestingly, at one stage, the BJP which can influence at least 8 votes directly in the 31-member house, was mulling between the rival group led by Pawar and a 'neutral' panel headed by either former BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya or Congressman Rajeev Shukla. But once Pawar, who has been harping on a clean and Srinivasan free BCCI, made it known that he was willing to contest, it became easy for the BJP to decide. It helped that a section of BJP's leadership had strong reservations against, both, Shukla and Dalmiya. Shukla, it may be recalled, was the chairman of IPL 6 that was plagued by betting and match-fixing accusations while Dalmiya was embroiled in a financial scam in the aftermath of the 1996 World Cup.
As things stand, Pawar will file his nomination for the president's post on Sunday and is expected to sail through unanimously, leaving the Srinivasan camp to lick its wounds.
If things go as planned, he will then put up fresh faces for the secretary, joint secretary and treasurer's posts in a bid to give the beleaguered BCCI a complete makeover. Former BCCI chief Shashank Manohar, who many feel is the right person to cleanse the board, is unlikely to be inducted in any official capacity. He will continue to support Pawar from outside though.
Either Ajay Shirke or Sanjay Jagdale, who quit as treasurer and secretary in protest against Srinivasan's high handedness, are tipped to make a comeback in some capacity. There may be a surprise package in former India captain Sourav Ganguly who is also joint secretary in the Cricket Association of Bengal. He is likely to be given a big role in the IPL governing council and is even likely to attend the AGM as the nominee of Kolkata based National Cricket Club (NCC).
Dalmiya, who controls two votes from East Zone (CAB and NCC), is likely to be offered an ornamental post.