The rise and the not-so-fall of N Srinivasan

Narayanaswami Srinivasan, the chairman of Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) and the owner of IPL franchise (not a team) Chennai Super Kings, has been making headlines for not-so-good reasons in recent times.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is finally over but the controversy surrounding the gentlemen’s game is still overshadowed by allegation of corruption, spot fixing, betting and many more. Despite the time line of events surrounding the IPL and Indian cricket in recent times, one man was going strong until the national news channels clamoured for his head.

Srinivasan was not in the spotlight until he became the president of the BCCI. So how did an B.Sc graduate from Madras University, a double degree in Chemical Engineering from the United States of America make it to top position of the richest sports governing body in the world.

Let us find out the rise and not so fall of Srinivasan from a B.Sc graduate to being the president of the BCCI.

1) Srinivasan stepped into cricket administration as an ally to the former BCCI president AC Muthiah in his home town, Chennai. Within a year, he becomes the president for the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) and the position, which still belongs to him till date.

2) Well if you feel this is too quick, his jump to the national stage took a little while. In 2005, Srinivasan made an entry to the BCCI as the treasurer of the governing body of the cricket in country where they worship cricket like a religion.

3) Srinivasan joined hands with Sharad Pawar to oust Jagmohan Dalmiya from his post as the president of the BCCI.

4) A clause in the BCCI till the start of 2008 read: “No administrator shall have, directly or indirectly, any commercial interest in the matches and events conducted by the board.”

However, all these changed after the birth of the IPL, which is why the game in the country is undergoing a post-mortem to remove the last vestige of corruption.

The same clause mentioned above was altered, a tiny mini-alteration, which made a huge difference: “No administrator shall have, directly or indirectly, any commercial interest in any of the events of the BCCI, excluding IPL, Champions League and Twenty20.”

This change was done to favour Srinivasan own a franchise (not a team) in the IPL. However, this change took place in September 2008 but Srinivasan became the owner of the Super Kings in January of the same year.

The man who got Srinivasan into the administration, Muthiah filed a case against him in the Supreme Court of India, for changing the clause in the BCCI. The case is still ongoing and the verdict is yet to be given on the same.

5) After the amendments, the owner of India Cements was elevated as the secretary of the BCCI in 2008. Srinivasan was then elected as the chairman of the BCCI in 2010 and replaced Shashank Manohar.

During his tenure as the BCCI president, the governing body has seen a lot of revenue being generated. However, his slow rise from an ally to the former president of the BCCI to being one of the top brass in Indian cricket is something which none has ever bothered to give a serious note.

Since his entry to the Indian cricket at district level, Srinivasan has not suffered any tumult. Should you consider his stepping down as a setback, then I would prefer to disagree because he still holds the ownership of Chennai Super Kings.

However, on the other perspective, his rise has now given a bad name to the game in India. It is the same game where players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble are worshiped by the cricket loving fans across the nation.