Brijesh Patel

Calcutta: In a verdict reminiscent of the dramatic 1990 Board elections, the top posts in the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) have gone to rival factions.

The elections, held on Sunday, are bound to be viewed with mixed feelings by the Sharad Pawar group, which is calling the shots in the Board.

While Pawar and his men failed to get KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel dislodged, Mysore royal Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar defeated former India captain Gundappa Viswanath (by 36 votes) in the fight for the president’s chair.

Viswanath had been one-time India teammate Patel’s candidate. A former MP, Wadiyar had Pawar’s support.

Patel, who has changed the face of the KSCA, thrashed G. Kasturirangan by 86 votes. The Pawar group will find that hard to digest as he has always been identified with Jagmohan Dalmiya.

Pawar and the ones closest to him can’t stand Dalmiya.

Overall, taking into account the committee’s composition, the Wadiyar camp secured a thin majority — 13-11. Strictly among the office-bearers, though, Patel and his men have a 4-2 advantage.

Besides the president and secretary, the office-bearers’ panel has three vice-presidents and the treasurer.

Former India allrounder Roger Binny and Dr S. Krishnamurthy, who were backed by Patel, have become vice-presidents. The lone Wadiyar man there is P.R. Ashokanand.

Treasurer Tallam Venkatesh had Patel’s support.

Not just Pawar, high-flying industrialist Vijay Mallya (who attended the AGM as the Select Cricket Club representative) also threw his weight behind Wadiyar and his candidates.

Seventeen years ago, Madhavrao Scindia had defeated B.N. Dutt for the Board’s top post, while Scindia-baiter Dalmiya won the secretary’s election by beating C. Nagaraj.

Dalmiya, of course, declined to continue after a year and Nagaraj (who, like Scindia, is no more) got the job he’d been desperate for.

It’s to be seen how Wadiyar and Patel work together.

“I can’t say how things are going to work out… We need to sit together and see how to move ahead… See how the KSCA can progress… It’s sad that the association members didn’t vote for a legend (Viswanath),” Patel told The Telegraph.

Indeed, after Sunday, thorough gentlemen cricketers like Viswanath — he’s still applauded for calling back Bob Taylor during the 1979-80 Jubilee Test in Mumbai (then Bombay) — will think thrice before making a pitch for administrative positions.

In any case, because of the machinations, few seem to show interest.

Viswanath, apparently, got “ditched” by many of the clubs who’d been “aggressively” wooed by the Wadiyar camp. Till late on Monday, he wasn’t available for comment.

Patel, for his part, added: “Among other things, we’ve got a big match (the opening India versus Australia ODI) on our hands… It’s on the 29th, which isn’t many days away…”

Wadiyar and Patel opposed each other, but must now forge a working relationship for three years, the standard term for office-bearers in the KSCA.

It’s one marriage that’s going to be very closely watched.