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Sunny Gavaskar takes centrestage

A small step for Sunny -- but it could be the start of a giant leap for cricket administration in India.

The former India skipper, and one of the most influential voices in Indian cricket, has been unanimously voted vice president of the Mumbai Cricket Association.

This completes the process of realignment that started with the death of Ramakant Desai. Then vice president Ajit Wadekar moved over to head the zone selection committee, and was thereby automatically co-opted into the national selection committee, to fill Desai's shoes.

And now Gavaskar moves into the slot formerly occupied by his one-time skipper, Ajit Wadekar. And, for the first time, takes centrestage in cricket administration.

The election of Gavaskar to the second highest post in Mumbai cricket affairs is not without its share of irony -- MCA president and state chief minister Manohar Joshi had earlier toppled Gavaskar's uncle, Madhav Mantri, to take over the top spot.

At the time, Gavaskar had on a public platform minced no words in dubbing the move "unethical". Subsequently, however, Gavaskar and Joshi have shared public platforms on several occasions, and all indications have been that the two have buried the hatchet.

What is significant about the move is that it heralds Gavaskar's entry into cricket administration -- something he has hitherto resisted, despite frequent demands that he assume a more public profile.

It is even more surprising given that Gavaskar has, in the past, forcefully criticised the workings of the MCA on numerous occasions, through his columns and public utterances.

What will be immediately interesting is to see how Gavaskar copes with the intense factionalism within the MCA. As matters stand, there are two groups within the body, with Joshi heading the dominant one. Significantly, Desai contested the previous election as the candidate against Joshi's protege.

Insiders indicate that this is the beginning of a natural progression that will see Gavaskar being picked as a national selector, and ultimately rising to the post of Secretary of the BCCI. At present, he heads the board's technical committee.

One thing that militates against Gavaskar becoming selector any time soon is the fact that Ajit Wadekar has just taken over, following the death of Ramakant Desai. If matters run their due course, Wadekar has five years to run in his term -- and he has just started.

However, there is a proviso that each selector has to be elected by his zone, each year, for another term -- and this could be where Gavaskar gets his look-in.

Interestingly, the move comes at a time when another cricket great -- Kapil Dev Nikanj, to give him a name -- is on the verge of taking a more visible administrative profile. As of now, Kapil heads the BCCI's pitches committee.

Recently, the committee was re-nominated for another term -- with, however, the proviso that the all-encompassing brief that prevailed till now will be watered down, and the pitches committee will henceforth be assigned jobs on a piecemeal basis, from one series to the next.

However, indications are that Kapil will very soon take over as secretary of the Haryana Cricket Association, following a widespread revolt against incumbent Ranbir Singh.

Singh, finding the heat too much to handle, had recently offered to step down in favour of Kapil, and the former star all-rounder is expected to take up the assignment shortly.

Interestingly, this puts Kapil, too, on line for a slot, later, in the national selection comittee.

The question -- in the case of both former Test greats -- being, when?