Avishek Dalmiya takes over as youngest president of CAB

02/06/2020

Avishek Dalmiya, son of late Jagmohan Dalmiya, has taken over as the youngest president in the history of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) at Wednesday's special general meeting (SGM). Snehasish Ganguly, the older brother of BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, took over as secretary.

While Avishek was elevated from his position as secretary, Snehasish had previously served as the ex-players' representative in the Apex Council, both elected unopposed. At 38, Avishek thus occupies the chair which his late father Jagmohan sat on from 1992-93 to 2006 and then from 2008-09 till his death in September 2015.

Also given that his immediate predecessor was Sourav Ganguly, Avishek has some big shoes to fill. Unfazed, Avishek is choosing to focus on the tasks he has on hand for the next 22 months, after which he will have to go for a mandatory cooling-off period as he completes six years in office in various capacities.

"It is an emotional moment for me. But it will be foolish to compare myself with the big personalities who have been CAB president in the past. With two World Cups to be hosted by India in 2021 and '23, we need to redesign the Club House. There need to be four dressing rooms keeping in mind back-to-back matches during the global tournament," Avishek said, reported Cricbuzz.

Other areas under Avishek’s immediate plans include preventing age fraud and the implementation of a women’s club league with eight.

"We'll be implementing the code of conduct for players as well as support staff. We'll also have age-verification cells to prevent age fraud. We are (also) trying to have a Bengal Cricket League with top fan-based clubs of the Maidan,” Avishek added.

Having once been an office-bearer in 2007-08, Snehasish returned to the CAB as a working committee member.

"I found the association to be working much more as a team when I returned in 2018," Snehasish said.