Cricket Association of Bengal: Turbulence off the field

The story goes back to Tuesday when Jaydev Unadkat's Saurashtra defeated Bengal in the Ranji Trophy final. We all have seen the former president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, Avishek Dalmiya giving away the Ranji trophy to Jaydev Unadkat on television. And the story starts from here.

As per reports, it was Devajit Saikia, BCCI Joint-secretary, who was supposed to be present at the prize ceremony in the Ranji Trophy final. In fact, he was supposed to be the person giving away the Ranji trophy title to Jaydev Unadkat. But as Bengal's batting line-up collapsed on the 4th day morning, Devajit Saika could not be present at the right time at Eden Gardens.

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So he called Jay Shah, the BCCI Secretary to send someone to be a representative of BCCI at the ceremony. Jay shah looked for Sourav Ganguly, the former BCCI president, but he wasn't available as well. So, he asked Avishek Dalmiya, the current member of the IPL governing council and former CAB president to be present at the ceremony and give away the trophy to the winning captain.

But, here is the backstory. Someone from BCCI had already asked Snehashish Ganguly, the current President of the Cricket Association of Bengal to be ready whenever the ninth wicket of Bengal falls down so he can be present at the ceremony to give away the award.

Snehasish Ganguly was not happy with Avishek Dalmiya doing the honours at the ceremony and not him. Although, Senhasish then agreed to be present at the ceremony and gave away the runners-up trophy to Bengal captain, Manoj Tiwary.

Soon after it was seen that Avishek Dalmiya's nameplate from the ex-president's room at the cricket Association of Bengal was taken out. For your information, Avishek Dalmiya made a former president's room at Eden Gardens for Sourav Ganguly, then ex-president of CAB at Eden Gardens. Sourav Ganguly used to sit in that room and later Avishek Dalmiya sits there along with him whenever the latest former president of the association comes to Eden Gardens.

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As per reports, Snehashish Ganguly himself had given orders to Anu Dutta (member of CAB) to empty the Ex-President's room and name plates and tables were thrown out from that room.

This incident has already created turbulence in the Cricket Association of Bengal and as for some of the members of the association, this is a disrespect to the Dalmiya family who had done a lot for the association. A few of the members have already appealed to Naresh Ojha, the secretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal for accountability for the incident. As per reports, Naresh Ojha was aware of the incident and thus there is a demand for accountability from him.

When after the loss of the Ranji Trophy final, CAB was supposed to do meetings on the future roadmap of the future of Bengal cricket, the fight within the association will raise a lot of questions about what the future holds up for cricket of Bengal. In that scenario, it will be interesting to see what steps CAB take regarding the turbulence and whether we will see a revote to create a new governing body if the turmoil continues.