Chetan wants to hit the ground running

Panaji: Chetan Desai was close -- in every sense of the word -- to being elected as joint secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Tied 15-15 along with Jharkhand Cricket Association's Amitabha Choudhary, Shivlal Yadav, who chaired the annual general body meeting, tilted the scales in Choudhary's favour with his casting vote.
That must have come as a cruel blow for Goa’s more respected cricket administrator who was hoping to “serve the game” in a prominent role.At last week’s meeting in Kolkata, he appeared to be losing more ground when his privileged place on the Indian Premier League (IPL) governing council was taken away. But, like they say, when a door closes, a window opens.
That opportunity for Chetan, long-serving secretary of the Goa Cricket Association, was presented when BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya appointed him as chairman of the marketing committee.
“There was lot of glamour attached to the IPL governing council but finance and marketing are the most important committees of the BCCI. I am glad that I was chosen to lead the marketing committee,” Desai told TOI at the GCA headquarters in Porvorim on Friday.
Desai is the only member of the GCA who has been chosen to lead a BCCI committee, while others including president Dr Shekhar Salkar and former president Vinod Phadke have been handed relatively trivial roles. Salkar is now part of the affiliation committee while Phadke has stepped into the TV production committee. GCA treasurer Vilas Desai (finance), Akbar Mulla (marketing) and Suraj Lotlikar (NCA) have also been rewarded.
“The marketing committee will have a significant role to play and I intend having our first meeting soon. Probably, we will have it in Goa,” said Desai.
The BCCI marketing committee head said his endeavour would be to devise new marketing strategies that can take Indian cricket to even greater heights.
In the past the BCCI marketing committee has been headed by union Minister Farooq Abdullah and more recently, Amitabha Choudhary, the man who denied Desai a rare chance to become joint secretary.
“There is so much to do in the BCCI marketing committee. Tenders for various contracts, title rights, advertising rights, sponsorships, even television rights will have to be scrutinized and approved by our committee. I am eager to start working as soon as possible,” said Desai.
BCCI committee chairmen: NCA: Dhruv Pandove (chairman); Constitution Review Committee: Jagmohan Dalmiya (president); Media Committee: Biswarup Dey (chairman); Marketing Committee: Chetan Desai (chairman); Disciplinary Committee: Jagmohan Dalmiya (president); IT Committee: Arun Thakur (chairman); Technical Committee: Anil Kumble (chairman); Tour Programme & Fixtures Committee: G Gangaraju (chairman); Finance Committee: Jyotiraditya Scindia (chairman).