Battle lines are sketched for power struggle in the BCCI

“Think not what cricket can do for you, but what you can do for cricket”. The bastardisation of the most well-worn of political phrases could be considered a little slothful but when it comes from the mouth of one of the most respected administrators the game has known, it is worth listening to.

Inderjit Singh Bindra has been at the beating heart of cricket for almost 40 years. He was for years considered the moral authority of India's obsession, whether on the BCCI board or not. It was his idea to set up the ICC’s anti-corruption unit. He was principal adviser to the ICC. He was BCCI president. Twice. He has been president of Punjab Cricket Association for three decades. He knows his stuff.

So when he looks cricket up and down when asked how it has changed, he does so with a wise, narrow-eyed sad stare. One suspects a tear could fall because Bindra believes it is in a sorry state, particularly in India.

“I’ll you the reason why it has changed,” he told me in London last week. “Too much money. If it was spent and distributed properly it’s a good thing but otherwise it creates vested interests. The board president is more powerful than a union cabinet minister. It’s the most high profile job next to the prime minister of India. Cricket is bigger than politics. There’s so much money. People are coming into it not for the love of the game. They want to know what they can get out of the game.”

Indian cricket got rich quickly largely because of Lalit Modi, who transformed television and marketing revenue in the late 90s for a board which previously had no clue. Bindra was Modi’s champion. He first met him in 1996 when Modi was launching ESPN in India and impressed by his gusto, Bindra slowly but surely encouraged his rise into administration.

It was the beginning of a new era for India. Of untold wealth and untold power struggles. Modi's job was to ensure the BCCI realised its true worth. It was about money, but Bindra says this was not the Pandora’s box moment.

“At the end of the day it is about how the money is deployed. Getting it pumped back into the game is most important. Marketing has to have an objective. What are we raising the money for? To promote the game at grass root level. Lalit was a genius at marketing. And the money went to the grass roots. Now, the Indian board has become, almost like a Dracula.”

Bindra blames N Srinivasan, the current BCCI president, for the change. His influence not just in Indian cricket, but the world game, is exceptional . No man has strode the sport with such colossal steps before. And the rest of the world quakes. Look at how Srinivasan was able to convince the South African board that they should suspend Haroon Lorgat, their own chief executive, because he didn’t do as he said. Lorgat now faces an ICC probe.

It is an extraordinary state of affairs. And Bindra says it is all down to money and power, of which Srinivasan, who owns the Chennai Super Kings and the business behemoth India Cements, has plenty.

“India cricket has a vice-like grip. Once you say Lorgat should not be in South Africa that is wrong. He has done nothing wrong. It is all for vested interests or self-aggrandisement.

“Srini tells the ICC what to do. DRS is wrong. So everyone says it’s wrong. Suspend Lorgat. He is suspended. He told me it was his ambition to be the new Dalmiya. And Dalmiya was the Godfather of Indian cricket. He was almost untouchable until Sharad Pawar unseated him in 2005.”

The reference to Jagmohan Dalmiya should not go unnoticed. Bindra was suspended by the former BCCI chief in 2002 for speaking up about match-fixing. He wore the suspension as a badge of honour. He thought Dalmiya’s reign had turned sour, beset by malpractice and self-interest.

“He was underselling India cricket. When Modi came in the value went up 50 times for television deals. You can’t do that in one cycle unless it was being undersold. Indian cricket was not achieving what it should. But Srini is more dangerous, more powerful. He has more resources.” Almost incredulously, Bindra repeats, “he told me he wanted to follow in Dalmiya’s footsteps.”

Bindra has been threatened with a ban by Srinivasan  for criticising the BCCI about their decision to carpet Modi. It is perhaps because he is the man he fears most. The man who could bring him down, just as he did to Dalmiya.

In 2005 when Pawar caused shock waves by unseating the Kolkata giant, Bindra was part of the election team. It included Modi and a certain Srinivasan, who had switched allegiances from Dalmiya’s camp at the last minute.

With Pawar returning to the fold as president of the Mumbai Cricket Association and Modi set to contest the Rajasthan president elections, Bindra has the potential to be a key figure once again.

Indeed, with Srinivasan under the scanner for the IPL spot-fixing scandal, the trio recognise that he may never be as vulnerable again. They may need help, though. And it could come in the form of Dalmiya.

Could Bindra, who remains close to the Dalmiya clan, convince the grand old master to turn on his protégé? Or will battle lines be drawn on historic rifts? Regardless, battle lines are being sketched for a heavyweight contest. It may be some time away, but it will be box office.