Bigwigs from Indian cricket, including former cricketers such as Sunil Gavaskar and Sourav Ganguly and BCCI members like Anurag Thakur and Rajiv Shukla, were present at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Monday to pay their final tributes to Jagmohan Dalmiya, who transformed BCCI into a global superpower.
Damilya, who is a respected figure in world cricket for all and sundry owing to his contributions to world cricket, generated huge revenues during his tenure as the BCCI president as well as the ICC president.
"He along with Mr. IS Bindra recognised the potential of Indian cricket and of the way the electronic media could play a role in furthering and developing the sport," PTI quoted Gavaskar as saying.
When Dalmiya took over the reins of ICC as well, he changed it into a money churning machine.
"It was under Mr. Dalmiya's leadership that the ICC, who then had only a few thousand dollars in their kitty, went on to have the millions today which are disbursed to the rest of the cricketing world," Gavaskar added.
Apart from his astute business mind, former Australian cricketer, Ian Chappell believes Dalmiya also opened up his ears to opinions of former players.
"To me Jaggu was a rarity amongst administrators because he genuinely wanted to listen to the opinions of former players. I felt he also wanted to have former players involved in the real, hard, decision-making process of administration," Chappell wrote in his column for ESPNCricinfo.
Chappell feels a World Test Championship could have been possible if Dalmiya had stayed as a ICC president for a longer tenure.
"I think if Jaggu had stayed on a bit longer as ICC president, I'm sure today there would be a World Test Championship."
What made Dalimya a special administrator was the manner in which he took care of different state associations as well.
"He ensured that everyone from state association to players get benefited. His vision and way of functioning not only took Indian cricket but the world cricket to greater heights. Because of him the Indian subcontinent got prominence in the ICC," said IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla.
However, his demise has left a huge void in the BCCI as he was the president of the board when he died on Sunday. Hence, the process of electing a new president is expected to start soon. Irrespective of who becomes the next president, Shukla wants the board to function in a manner in which Dalmiya envisioned.
"It's very difficult to cope up with the crisis because there's a big void. We will try our best to fulfill his vision and desire. We will run the board in a manner by which his aspirations can be fulfilled," added Shukla.
