They must be dancing in the streets of Cincinnati--home of 'WorldHell' chief Mark 'The Muck'--and in the deserts of Sharjah, the paradise spot for cricket's bookie brigade.
Yes, our - or rather, their man - man Jaggu-da is back.
From king of world cricket (ICC) to king of Indian cricket (BCCI) may seem one step down. But not for Jaggu-da. It just means a few more years clinging to power and the chance for revenge against all his myriad enemies.
The man whose grand globalisation plan was welcomed by every bookie and corrupt cricketer around the world has wasted no time in getting down to brass tacks. Remember how he hijacked the first mini-World Cup in Dhaka in 1998 in connivance with 'WorldHell'? And he still has a lot to answer for, if one goes by the CBI report into match fixing and corruption in cricket. You know how it is that every time a new party and a new Chief Minister comes to power it is the IAS and IPS officers who get their marching orders? After all these are perceived to be the lackeys of the previous regime.
Now the BCCI chief is busy dashing off letters to coach John Wright and physio Andrew Leipus right at the start of a rigorous tour to South Africa. It seems Jaggu-da wants to find out why Indian cricket is languishing in 8th place in the world rankings, above just Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.
Of course the real reason is that Wright and Leipus were appointed by his predecessor, AC Muthiah. So the new jhaaru is busy sweeping clean! Unfortunately the indignant letter has backfired. For after losing the opening match to South Africa, India came back on Wednesday to trounce the same team. Now maybe he will send another letter, this time congratulating the team.
And while Jaggu-da is busy dashing off his love letters, the season opening Irani Trophy match between Ranji Trophy champions Baroda and the Rest of India was being shuttled back and forth. No one wanted to stage the match! Finally Nagpur have reluctantly agreed, that too a day late.
So now we know his priority - spread the game to every corner of the globe, but screw domestic cricket in India. And then he expects India to be champions of the world!
Really, the elections to the BCCI last month in Chennai would have put even our politicians to shame. The post of president and secretary of the board means almost as much as a chief ministership of a state today. And talking of chief ministership, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and Laloo Prasad Yadav have not stuck their filthy fingers into the cricket pie. It just can't get worse.
The bribes, the intimidation, the horse-trading and floor-crossings that went on at Chennai just show to what depths cricket has sunk in the country. And to think Jaggu-da claims to be surprised at how dirty it was this time around! Who pray is responsible for this sorry state of affairs?!
At least there was one saving grace from Chennai - that mad midget Lele has been given the boot. Now he looks to be making an unceremonious exit from the Baroda Cricket Association as well which he has been ruling over like his personal fiefdom. It's a group led by Kiran More who is behind his imminent ouster. More of course is best remembered for dropping Graham Gooch on 0 in the Lord's Test of 1990. The England captain went onto score 333! So finally the wicket-keeper will be doing a great service to Indian cricket.
So no more quotes predicting doom for the Indian team abroad, no more "all rubbish" (match-fixing), no more "he can go to hell" (when asked in an interview last month for his views on More). Journalists perhaps will be the only ones to miss him thanks to those crazy quotes (which he would promptly deny). Wonder if the new man Niranjan Shah will be any better though. As the saying goes, 'the more things change, the more they remain the same'.




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