When BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary and COA member Diana Edulji shared a laugh

The Supreme Court had appointed a Committee of Administrators (COA) to oversee the functioning of the day-to-day affairs of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). One of the COA members is former India women’s cricket captain Diana Edulji, the only cricketer in the court-appointed panel.

On Monday evening at the Cricket Club of India, Edulji shared the stage with BCCI’s acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary on the occasion of legendary opening batsman and former captain Sunil Gavaskar’s 68th birthday.

No, Edulji was not there to monitor what Choudhary did or said. Instead, they got along well and even shared a laugh on more than one occasion and spoke about cricket administration at the event organised by CCI’s Legends Club. Choudhary, a former IPS officer, was courteous in addressing Edulji as ‘Madam’.

The president of Legends Club, former India batsman Madhav Apte, mentioned in his introductory speech that he hoped that both Choudhary and Edulji did not sit on the opposite sides but on the same side for the betterment of Indian cricket. Both the administrators then said in chorus, “we are already on the same side”.

As a guest speaker, Choudhary termed the last two years of administration in BCCI as “admittedly critical for the board”. “The last two years have been the most critical phase, the most trying phase” of his administration.

Asked why most of the BCCI members were resisting change and not complying with the recommendations of the Lodha panel, Choudhary said: “I am not resisting change.”

No sooner had Choudhary said it than Edulji, sitting on the dais three seats away, said: “this is music to my ears”.

Choudhary continued: “It is just the inertia of the system. I don’t want to say more.”

Choudhary is one of the key figures chiefly responsible to construct a world-class stadium in Ranchi – the Jharkhand State Cricket Association Stadium – that also hosted its first ever Test when Australia toured India earlier this year.

He said he firmly believed in “performances and translation of statistics are directly proportional to the resources”.

He was also proud that the undivided Bihar “was once a cricket shadow area and where people believed no cricketers would come out of” has paved the way to dishing out “one of the most celebrated captains (MS Dhoni) and that two of our boys (Dhoni and Sourabh Tiwary) played in the India 11”.

Choudhary was also pleased with the crowd flocking the Test venues, especially in his city of Ranchi.

“For Test cricket, you need to be connoisseurs of cricket to come and watch. You have such connoisseurs of the game in England. In India, you will still put up a crowd in larger cities. In smaller cities, you will get some crowd. Out of the six new Test centres that we had last season, four of them had as many spectators as you would get for a T20 or ODIs. We (Jharkhand) grossed over Rs 1 crore, which is outstanding over the five days,” Choudhary said.

Choudhary was also open to suggestions for betterment of women’s cricket in India including naming the trophy for women’s national tournament after Aloo Bamjee, one of the pioneers who started women’s cricket in the 1970s.

The idea was mooted by former India captain Nari Contractor, to whom Choudhary said: “You and seniors like Mr Apte endorse the suggestion and it becomes easy to pass it.”

Edulji was only too happy, for she started her cricket playing for Bamjee’s club, Albee CC in the early 1970s. “Life has come a full circle today,” Edulji said. “I started playing for Bamjee’s club and we used to practice on two days of the week – Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings – at the CCI. And, today I am here at the same venue talking about cricket administration. I hope BCCI will be known for cricket, irrespective of men or women.”