Singh, Pawar

Aug. 6: On a day the parallel cricket league was dismissed as a “Mickey Mouse”, a big cat has sprung to its defence.

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has written a letter to BCCI boss and fellow-politician Sharad Pawar, asking the Union minister not to take a “confrontationist” stand against the Zee-promoted Indian Cricket League.

Singh also requested Pawar to “act as a facilitator” and prevail upon “hardliners” in the BCCI, fuelling speculation that the letter is part of an orchestrated move.

With the league spiriting away some old hands, the BCCI had last week warned players of life ban if they dilly-dallied with the league.

The letter said it was unfortunate that the BCCI has taken a rigid stand against the league proposal.

“By adopting a confrontationist posture, the BCCI is not only missing an opportunity to enlarge the scope of the popular game of cricket but it is also attacking the right of Indian cricketers who should have the freedom to opt and play as per their own wish without facing such penal threats and warnings,” Singh said.

The letter coincided with a comment by Pakistan team manager Talat Ali that the Indian league was nothing more than “Mickey Mouse cricket”.

In the letter, Singh — known as Diggy Raja when he was in power — took care to point out that he had written it as a “lover of cricket” and not as a politician. The tone suggests that Singh expects Pawar, too, to read the letter in the capacity of the cricket chief and not as a leader of the Nationalist Congress Party, the Congress’s ally as well as bugbear.

Singh appealed to the “democratic character” of Pawar and said: “I am sure you will prevail upon the hardliners in the board and make them understand the sentiments of millions of cricket lovers. What is good for cricket and cricketers should obviously be good for the BCCI.”

The reference to “hardliners” has set tongues wagging in Madhya Pradesh. As always in politics, two interpretations are doing the rounds.

One school of thought is that the letter is intended at strengthening Pawar’s hand in the BCCI, which has several power centres and mavericks.

In this sense, Singh seems to be asking all concerned to give the board president greater space and an arbitrator’s role. Before Pawar moved out of the Congress in 1999, Singh was seen as his protégé.

Singh’s detractors in his home state, however, claim that he has taken up the league’s cause to send a message to the Jyotiraditya Scindia camp.

Singh is having a running feud with Jyotiraditya, who is firmly behind the BCCI in his capacity as a “patron” of the Madhya Pradesh cricket association. After the death of Madhavrao Scindia, the father of Jyotiraditya, Singh was apparently requested to head the Madhya Pradesh chapter of cricket board but he declined.