IS Bindra to withdraw from cricket affairs

New Delhi Inderjit Singh Bindra who played a pivotal role in India hosting three World Cups has decided to withdraw from cricket affairs and as a first step he is likely to hand over the reins of the Punjab Cricket Association to fellowIndian Administrative Service IAS officer DP ReddyBindra a former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India BCCI says he has in fact overstayed a couple of years as he has always maintained that he would be quitting cricket administration when he turns 70I am happy I am withdrawing from daytoday running of the PCA affairs when the wonderful band of my colleagues still wants me to stay on Bindra told IANS FridayIS BindraThe PCA executive committee will come to know of Bindras decision officially when it meets in Chandigarh Saturday without him presidingReddy PCA vicepresident and a principal secretary in the Punjab government has been a key PCA official for a number of yearsBindra said he would like the transition to be smooth and for that this is the best time for him to leave the PCA administration in good hands when everything was going wellCome to think of it I have spent 37 years as PCA president and I will be leaving a satisfied man with absolutely no regrets I dont think you can come across such a lovable team to work with and every Test One Day international or Indian Premier League IPL game played at the PCA Stadium in Mohali was conducted with the same zeal and enthusiasmOur best moment even if anxious was the 2011 World Cup semifinal when the prime ministers of India and Pakistan landed up in Mohali to witness the match and in the end everyone praised the arrangements Every important visitor had nice things to say about our facilities and organisationNo wonder the lovely ground and other facilities fetched PCA the cricket boards bestrun state association award for four yearsFor Bindra the three most satisfying things were Punjab winning the Ranji Trophy the construction of a worldclass stadium and recognition as the bestrun associationBindra was the unanimous choice for presidents post when Southern and Northern Punjab associations merged Importantly Bindra never had to contest an election to stay in office all these yearsBindra is also happy that during his tenure as board president 199396 cricket was the uppermost and money was only to promote the game not to fill the coffers as a status symbolHe says the turning point in Indian cricket was the 1983 World Cup victory and that encouraged the board to bring in Trans World International TWI to produce picture and uplink it to end Doordarshan monopoly With it came the broadcaster ESPN to pave the way for satellite telecast in the country with the board winning its case in the Supreme Court The natural sequel to it was marketing the game successfullyBindra considers his buddyturnedfoe Jagmohan Dalmiya as one of the handful top administrators of the game though he has his failings Former board presidents NKP Salve Madhavrao Scindia and MA Chidambaram all loved cricket immensely and would not do anything if they thought that it would harm itAmong the board secretaries Ghulam Ahmed was easily the best and Judge Anant Kanmadikar was a good man at heart he saidBindra said he has a lot to say about modern day cricket and administrators and above all IPL and his friend Lalit Modi but wants to keep them for another day