Jagmohan Dalmiya

Calcutta: Board president Sharad Pawar and Kapil Dev are expected to exchange pleasantries on Sunday, but it’s unlikely that Pawar and Jagmohan Dalmiya will come face to face in New Delhi that evening.

Pawar and Dalmiya have been at war for the past four years, specifically after the Board’s AGM in 2004.

As for Kapil (the 1983 World Cup-winning captain), Pawar got him sacked as the National Cricket Academy chairman because of his involvement with the rebel Indian Cricket League. His pension has also been stopped.

Being a former president (secretary and treasurer too) of the Board, Dalmiya has been invited for the felicitation of the 1983 heroes, but indications are that he won’t attend.

The Pawar regime, after all, banned Dalmiya for life in December 2006 (an act of vindictiveness, really) and the Board and Dalmiya have been battling each other in courts across cities.

The former president wasn’t available for a comment, but somebody close to him told The Telegraph: “It’s not that Mr Dalmiya doesn’t wish the cricketers well, but the atmosphere may not be congenial for him to be present at that function… In the circumstances, Mr Dalmiya is unlikely to go.”

It’s not insignificant, perhaps, that Dalmiya is preparing to stage a comeback at the state-level. He gave up the Cricket Association of Bengal presidentship after being banned, saying he would return after getting his name cleared.

Last July, Dalmiya got a clean chit from the Calcutta High Court, but that came at the eleventh-hour and he chose to bide his time.

Much has happened since, including appalling shortcomings during some IPL matches at the Eden, and Dalmiya is set to challenge the pro-Pawar Prasun Mukherjee.

For the record, Dalmiya had beaten Mukherjee (one of the senior-most IPS officers in the state) during the 2005 elections. The latter could only take the chair when Dalmiya stepped aside.