Jagmohan Dalmiya’s son Avishek becomes CAB’s youngest president at 38

Sourav Ganguly’s elevation as the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) last October, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) needed somebody to man it at the helm. On Wednesday, Avishek, son of former cricket administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya, was elected as the new president of the Bengal cricket body.

At 38, Avishek became the CAB’s youngest chief and was greeted by Ganguly, who had an evening flight to catch for London, along with his daughter Sana.

Ganguly’s elder brother Snehashish, who was a reputed batsman in first-class cricket and has been selector, was also present on the occasion. 54-year-old Snehashish has played 59 first-class games between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. Snehashish, who made over 2500 runs in first-class cricket, was also elected as the new secretary of the CAB.

Avishek will go through a cooling-off period

Avishek is set to go to a cooling-off period from November 6 next year as per the rules of the constitution. He became the 18th president of the board which has a rich history both in the game and off it.

His late father had also served in the same chair in two phases — between 1992-93 and 2006 and from 2008-09 till his death in September 2015. He was also the president of the BCCI at that time. He served in that post in three phases besides becoming the president of the International Cricket Council in 1997 for three years.

After winning the post unopposed, Avishek said in his first address: “Right from my childhood, I always heard my father saying ‘Eden is a temple of worship’. That sentiment will run with me always. He was very passionate about Eden Gardens. It was really emotional that I could sit in this room. I will only be a fool if I compare myself with any of the former CAB presidents. Their statures were different.”

With India set to host two major events in the coming years — the 2021 T20 World Cup and the 2023 50-over World Cup — the Avishek-led board will have some task cut out, like in the form of preparing the iconic Eden Gardens.

Among other decisions that are in the CAB’s pipelines are the introduction of an eight-team women’s league and introducing code of conduct for the players.

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