Top 5 contributions of Jagmohan Dalmiya to cricket

Generally, the cricket followers are mostly concerned about the players on the field. But, some people have been striving hard behind the screen to help cricket. Jagmohan Dalmiya was one of them and he gave an invaluable contribution to the cricket world.He is considered to be one of the greatest administrators cricket ever had. His acumen and marketing strategies not only upped the standard of the cricket but also helped it to become a global sport. Following are the contributions given by Dalmiya to the world of cricket:

#1 Rotation system for hosting the World Cups

Australia and England shared the dominance over the cricket world in the start of eighties. The first three World cups were organised by England, who had the adequate resources and facilities.

The then BCCI president, NKP Salve was denied complimentary tickets for the final of 1983 World Cup by the ICC, the puppet of England and Australia. The things changed when India won the World Cup 1983.

Jagmohan Dalmiya, guided by Salve and supported by I.S. Bindra, formed a draft of the proposal for hosting the World Cup, 1987 in the subcontinent. Initially, England opposed the proposal, but later got convinced looking at the unity of the Asian countries. The World cup has a rotation system since then for its hosting.

#2 Broadcasting rights

Doordarshan was the sole broadcaster in India for any sport in the early nineties. It allowed other channels to telecast the match with a 10 minutes’ late feed. Interestingly, DD used to charge fees to BCCI to broadcast the live matches.

Jagmohan Dalmiya, along with I.S. Bindra, came with a unique idea of opening bids of broadcasting rights to the private channels. This raised a lot of money and since then, the BCCI has emerged as the richest cricket board in the world.

Also, private channels improved the standards in the sports and paved a way for players to earn money through advertisements.

#3 Re-entry of South Africa to cricket

The apartheid in South Africa restricted the growth of various sports in country and cricket was not an exception. They were boycotted by the other nations from any sports’ events. But, the combined efforts of Ali Bacher, the then president of Cricket South Africa and Jagmohan Dalmiya brought impetus to the sport in South Africa.

Dalmiya convinced the heavy-weights in the BCCI to play a series with South Africa who in turn convinced the Indian Government. The South African players got a huge applause from the Indian spectators when they played the re-entry cricket series in India in 1991.

Later, the BCCI helped South Africa to become a full member the ICC. This happened despite the opposition from the then ICC president Clyde Walcott and Dalmiya played a key role in this.

#4 Test Status to Bangladesh

Jagmohan Dalmiya had a significant role to get a test status for Bangladesh. While his presidency of the BCCI, he convinced the ICC board panel to include Bangladesh amongst test playing nations. India agreed to play a test match against them in 2000 and eventually won the match. But, it had been a bigger victory for Bangladesh cricket.

The process of including Bangladesh in the international scheme of cricket started way back in 1998 when ICC arranged the first mini world cup (now known as the ICC championship trophy) and the host was Bangladesh. Dalmiya was the man behind this event.

Bangladesh has upped its standard of cricket since then and fans would be thankful to Dalmiya.

#5 Cricket- A global sport

Cricket needs a top man like Jagmohan Dalmiya for its popularity to grow

The conservative attitude of the cricket playing nations like England and Australia would had kept cricket limited to a handful number of countries. But, Jagmohan Dalmiya helped to shift the centre of cricket to the subcontinent which eventually have helped cricket a lot.

From broadcasting rights to the inclusion of nations like South Africa and Bangladesh in the full members of ICC, cricket has moved to become a global sport. The credit goes to a broad vision of Dalmiya who put cricket’s popularity as the first priority. The ICC needs a president like him to avoid money oriented approach towards cricket which has been restricting it from becoming a world-wide sport.