Despite BCCI clarification, Jagmohan Dalmiya's health, a concern

BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya

Kolkata: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Jagmohan Dalmiya made it to the Cricket Association of Bengal office yesterday probably to prove to the media that he is fit to run cricket in India.


BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya

A leading daily reported yesterday that the Justice Lodha Committee, appointed by the Supreme Court to probe the Indian Premier League controversy, found Dalmiya "incoherent and incomprehensible" during their meeting with him on Wednesday.

The BCCI were clearly unhappy. "Based on the publication of an alleged news article in one of the leading newspapers relating to the President of the Board, contents of which are based on mere surmise and conjecture apart from being defamatory, the BCCI would like to hereby clarify that the proceedings of the Hon'ble

Justice Lodha Committee are highly privileged and confidential in nature and that all interactions with the Hon'ble Committee as part of its proceedings, take place behind closed doors only thereby maintaining strict confidentiality," the Board said in a statement, emailed to the media last evening.

The cricketing fraternity in Kolkata is well aware of Dalmiya's illness. He trembles and cannot stand for
long periods.

At the last IPL presentation, Dalmiya was brought to the stage to present the trophy to Mumbai Indians and then taken off immediately. Dalmiya is always accompanied by his son Abhishek and a close family friend wherever he goes. According to a source, he is extremely forgetful. He seldom answers phone calls and callers on his landline are informed that he will return their call, which he seldom does.

However, despite poor health, Dalmiya has not made any loose statement to the media. It is a positive sign, but for how long can Indian cricket continue to be led by a president whose health is preventing him from making the best possible decisions towards a sport which is like a religion to most Indians?