The rise of Ranjib Biswal: From U-19 skipper to IPL chairman

It has not been a particularly happy 2013 for the BCCI’s mandarins. The betting and spot-fixing scandal in the 2013 Indian Premier League snowballed into a tsunami for BCCI, forcing N Srinviasan to step aside for a time and raising questions about the organisation’s leadership. Then secretary Sanjay Jagdale and treasurer Ajay Shirke resigned but Srinivasan persevered, insisting he had done nothing wrong, and was re-elected president for a third year in September.

He was also able to pick people he trusts to fill key positions in the board. One them is Ranjib Biswal, who was given the high profile position of chairman of the IPL governing council.

Biswal, the president of the Odisha Cricket Association, is a true allrounder. He has proved himself more than competent as a cricketer, administrator, politician and newspaper owner. Young, astute, versatile, bold and ambitious, he has on many occasions turned adversity into advantage. He may not be as suave as Srinivasan, but he means business and has all the tricks to get thing done.

As a cricketer Biswal represented India in the 1988 Youth (U-19) World Cup in England and led the country to victory in the Youth Asia Cup in Dhaka in 1989. A right-handed middle-order batsman and a right-arm off-break bowler, he captained a team that included Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Vinod Kambli and Ajay Jadeja. In eight Youth Tests and as many ODIs, he scored a total of 447 runs, including one century and two fifties and claimed four wickets.

During his decade-long playing career with Odisha and East Zone, Biswal scored 2170 runs, including five centuries and took 153 wickets in 41 first-class matches. He also led the Odisha Ranji team in both longer and shorter versions of the game before retiring in 1997.

A year before hanging up his boots, Ranjib was the third-highest wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy and the highest from his zone. In fact, he was the highest wicket-taker from East Zone for two consecutive seasons.

Despite being a competent allrounder, Ranjib did not get a chance to play for India. He, however, managed teams that won the 2010 Asia Cup, 2011 World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy. He was also the manager of the Indian team that retained the No 1 Test ranking by drawing a three-Test series 1-1 with South Africa in 2011.

There was time when the post of Team India manager was viewed as BCCI’s holiday gift to the members of its affiliated units or retired cricketers. But Biswal proved that managing the National team was a challenging job, requiring hard work, commitment and accountability of a seasoned professional. He also established the fact that performance of the manager carries as much importance as that of the captain and the coach.

After managing India’s one-day team in the 2006 West Indies tour, a series India lost, Biswal was not given any responsibility for the next three years. The turning point came in 2010

India again toured the West Indies again under his managership for the T20 World Cup but crashed out in the first round. With some of the team members getting involved in a restaurant brawl, Biswal’s job seemed to be in jeopardy. But he turned adversity into a personal victory by taking all the responsibility on his shoulders and submitting a candid report to the board.

The diplomatic manner in which he handled the incident with the media endeared him to the top brass of the BCCI. Since then, there has been no looking back. As manager, he was friendly with players, gave them freedom if they performed well and maintained discipline. The players in return not only liked him but respected him as well.

Before assuming the role of a manager, Biswal put up decent performances as a selector. He started off as a member of the junior national selection committee in 2003. In 2005 he was elevated to the senior selection committee and held the post for two years, under the chairmanship of Kiran More and Dilip Vengsarkar. His two years there were tumultuous as his U-19 team-mate Ganguly and coach Greg Chappell had a bitter public spat.

Two years ago Biswal was all set to be named the BCCI secretary before losing out to Sanjay Jagdale. According to media reports, he suffered the last-minute defeat as his fellow Congressmen in the board did not want to see him progress so much so soon. He, however, was made the chairman of National Cricket Academy.

Biswal would have been the treasurer of the BCCI if Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Jagmohan Dalmiya had not opposed his candidature in the last AGM at Chennai. But Dalmiya, who was vying for the chairman post of the IPL governing council, suffered a humiliating defeat as Biswal snatched it from his clutch by garnering the support of Srinivasan and affiliated units of Jharkhand, Assam, Tripura, Railways and Services.

Known to be a friendly person, Biswal can be aggressive and will settle scores if he is crossed. After being denied the treasurer’s post, Biswal started a campaign to even things with Dalmiya. He has been successful in isolating the CAB president in East Zone.

Now he wants the Kolkata-based National Cricket Club (NCC), a full member of the BCCI with voting rights, to be thrown out of the Board’s 24-member decision making Working Committee so that Dalmiya’s wings can be clipped further. His contention is that since NCC doesn’t figure in any domestic tournament, it has no business to be part of the Working Committee.

Biswal started his administrative career in cricket with a bang by becoming the president of Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) in 2004. With the support of OCA secretary Asirbad Behera, the ultimate king of Odisha sports, he defeated Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, editor of leading Odia daily `Sambad’ and son-in-law of former Chief Minister Janaki Ballav Patnaik. Since then, he has been holding the post, getting re-elected unopposed twice.

Despite being the head of OCA, Biswal has not interfered much in the internal affairs of the state body and has let secretary Behera enjoy full control. He is happy that through OCA he has become a vital cog in the wheel of BCCI’s administrative set-up. And Behera too is happy that through Biswal, OCA has gained additional benefits from the Board.

As politician, Biswal has experienced decent success. At the age of 25 he won the Lok Sabha election from Jagatsinghpur in 1995 and became one of the youngest MPs India has ever had. He, in fact, won two Lok Sabha elections as a Congress candidate from Jagatsinghpur.

But in electoral politics, he could not achieve as much success as he did in cricket administration and went on to suffer two defeats as MP candidate from Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara constituencies. With the next edition of IPL sure to keep him busy as its chairman, Biswal may not be interested to fielding himself as candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll. Moreover, cricket administration has proved more rewarding for him than mainstream politics.

Apart from cricket and politics, Biswal has made his mark in the media industry and continues to be the managing editor `The Samaya’, a leading Odia daily founded by his father and former Odisha Deputy Chief Minister Basant Biswal. Despite his busy schedule, he spares time for the smooth running of the newspaper.

Even in the media industry, he wields authority with his dare-devil and at times arrogant style of functioning. On a couple of occasions, he was seen snubbing journalists in public for criticizing certain decisions or activities of the OCA.

Being born into a rich family has helped Biswal achieve success in multiple fields. But behind the success too lies a shrwed brain and supreme confidence. Becoming the IPL chairman may be a landmark for his career, but not the ultimate success. With little clarity currently over who will eventually succeed Srinivasan, it could turn out to be Biswal who ends up wearing the crown.