Sharad Pawar left for Singapore on Saturday night for the annual conference of the International Cricket Council (ICC). By the time he returns to India, he will have become the king of international cricket. But much before his coronation as ICC president on July 1, Pawar will have a balancing act to do.
Soon after reaching Singapore, the Union minister will have to use all his diplomatic skills to sort out a tricky issue. The ICC officials are faced with a potential crisis situation over the selection of his successor. With fervent opposition from many a member to the nomination of John Howard as his vice-president, a post Pawar currently holds, the former BCCI president’s negotiation skills will be put to test.
A formal decision has to be made at the ICC executive board meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday but a lot of backroom lobbying and diplomacy is expected to take place. Even the BCCI is opposed to Howard’s candidature. “More than five members are opposing Howard,” said an Indian representative at the meet.
Howard needs the support of at least seven of the 10 members.
The former Aussie PM is facing opposition primarily because he has never been a cricket administrator. However, the Australian camp is not giving up. They are believed to have mended fences with Zimbabwe but the Indian camp contends that the African nation will go with the BCCI’s decision.
Those in the know of ICC developments say Howard might still pull it off. “There will be understanding, accommodation and compromises over the next three days,” said one official currently attending the meeting. “You never know what can happen.” Pawar, of course, will have to do a lot of balancing act to resolve the impasse.
Meanwhile, among other things, the ICC mandarins are expected to come out with a formula to resuscitate the ODI format. Over the next three-four days, cricket administrators will try to give some kind of context to the 50-50 format, which seems to be losing out to T20 in popularity.
One of the recommendations from ICC’s cricket committee is to create a kind of league for ODIs among bilateral events. Any tampering with the format, like in England and Australia, is unlikely till the 2011 World Cup.
