Indian cricket is hoping for a new dawn after Jagmohan Dalmiya's return as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Apparently, he received the support of the Narayanswami Srinivasan and Sharad Pawar factions and was unelected opposed for another term as BCCI chief, a decade after he was shunted out of the Board.
Dalmiya, 74, has had a long-standing association with Indian cricket, having joined the BCCI way back in 1979 and serving in various positions. He now has the daunting task of guiding Indian cricket out of its recent woes, which includes the spot-fixing scandal that rocked the Indian Premier League in 2013 and the alleged conflict of interest of BCCI members.
Here are some key facts about the veteran administrator:
1. Jagmohan Dalmiya returns to the BCCI as the president for yet another term -- exactly a decade after his previous involvement in the Board, which ended in 2005.
2. He was appointed BCCI treasurer in 1983 before going on to become secretary later on. He played a major role in India, along with Pakistan and Sri Lanka, securing the rights to host the 1987 World Cup and again in 1996.
3. He was elected as the chairman of the International Cricket Council from 1997 to 2000 after which he returned as the BCCI chief in 2001.
4. In the 2004 BCCI elections, he actually cast three votes "as an individual member, as a representative of the Cricket Association of Bengal and, finally, when the votes were tied even after this, he cast his casting vote as chairman" to get his proxy candidate Ranbir Singh Mahendra elected.
5. Despite Mahendra being elected BCCI president, Dalmiya continued to be in power as he got the members to anoint him as the first-ever 'Patron-in-Chief' of the Board in September 2004.
6. Associated with Indian cricket since 1979, he was shunted out of the BCCI when his backed candidate Ranbir Singh Mahendra lost to Sharad Pawar in 2005.
7. In 2006, he was expelled from the BCCI for alleged charges of misappropriation of funds related to hosting the 1996 World Cup, but was cleared of all chargers a year later after he challenged the decision in the Supreme Court and returned to the CAB in 2008 which paved his way to make an another comeback into the BCCI despite lying low for the last few years.
8. He returned to the BCCI two years ago as the interim president for a couple of months during the investigations into the Indian Premier League spot-fixing saga in 2013.
9. The 74-year-old, who is also the president of Cricket Association of Bengal, got into contention after former president Narayanswami Srinivasan, who also owns the Chennai Super Kings IPL franchise, was barred by the Supreme Court from contesting the BCCI elections over conflict of interest charges.
10. He was elected unopposed after no other candidate stood against him, while both Srinivasan and Pawar supported his candidature.
