Wait and see how far I can go: Dalmiya

KOLKATA: Jagmohan Dalmiya seems to be a man in no hurry. Even 24 hours after being given the responsibility to handle the day-to-day operations of the BCCI, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president is taking his own time to settle down and get going. In his first interaction with the media after taking over the new role of the board's functional head, Dalmiya sought time from all before the results start coming.

Profile: Jagmohan Dalmiya

"It is difficult time for Indian cricket, but all efforts will be made to clean up the game," he said at the CAB headquarters at the Eden Gardens on Monday evening. When asked whether he was clear about his powers and authority, Dalmiya only said: "Just wait and see how far I can go." He also refused to accept that Sunday's emergent working committee meeting in Chennai was illegal. "Those are all baseless views of some," he said. However, he revealed that Sanjay Jagdale has communicated to him that in spite of requests from all board members, the former board secretary is not willing to get back into the BCCI mix.

Regarding Ajay Shirke, who, too, was given 24 hours to reconsider his decision to quit as BCCI treasurer, Dalmiya said nothing had been heard from him till now. "But I am an optimistic person and will wait for another day to hear from him," he said. However, if both officials decide to stick to their stand, the vacancies will be filled up. "It is already there in the rules. If there is a vacancy, it will be filled up. There are rules for this for everybody starting from the president. We will go by the rule book only," he said.

Talking about who would represent the board in the International Cricket Council (ICC), Dalmiya insisted that nothing had been decided yet. "But I am entitled to (do so) and may represent the board," he said. The former board president requested all to wait for a few more days to know the name of the third member of the probe panel. "Let me go through the matter and it will be announced soon," he said. Asked whether the panel would submit the report to him or to the board, Dalmiya replied: "What difference does that make? What is important is that the report gets out."

Talking about banning strategic time-outs, cheergirls and after-match parties in the Indian Premier League (IPL) to clean the league, Dalmiya said: "Those are all some possibilities. But first we should try to keep everything alive. I don't have any medicine that gets instant result. It's not a magic, but we will try our best," he said.

The former board chief, who lost his chair in 2005, refused to term his latest innings as a comeback to the board. "I don't see this as any comeback. It is just that I have been given a responsibility which I cannot steer clear of," he pointed out. Dalmiya also avoided a direct answer on whether he would like to return as board chief in the near future. "Nobody has seen the future and thus there's no point in commenting on that now," the 73-year-old signed off.

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Shweta Pandey

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