Jagmohan Dalmiya, who will conduct the day-to-day affairs of the cricket control board instead of N. Srinivasan, said his priority was to clean up cricket whose credibility had taken a beating after the spot-fixing scandal.
“In the meeting, the main point was that for the last few days a lot of problems are going on as far as cricket is concerned. It became very necessary how the game can be cleaned. I don’t have too much time in my hand, so I need to work quickly on that.,” said Dalmiya.
Dalmiya, who himself faced charges after the 1996 World Cup, said he wasn’t thrown out of BCCI then. “I was clean when I went out of the BCCI some 10 years ago. Now, I am back and nothing has changed. I will try to discharge my duties with as much honesty as I can. If Jagdale and Shirke come and participate, they will be discharging duties as treasurer and secretary. If they decide not to turn up, then probably the responsibility to discharge those duties will be on me,” he added.
Reacting to suggestions that he was only going to be a figurehead of the BCCI during this period and the meeting was really an eyewash, Dalmiya said, “That is the most uncharitable and unreasonable comment to make. That is not the view of the administrators and players. Efforts have been made to bring everything above board. The inquiry will determine who is clean or not, but to take the stand today itself, the members felt it was too early to judge.”