Scindia could have headed ICC: Bacher

Congress party leader Madhavrao Scindia, who died Sunday, had the skill and experience to be the next International Cricket Council (ICC) head, says veteran South African cricket administrator Ali Bacher.

"I was shocked to learn of the tragic death of a highly respected cricket administrator in international cricket circles, especially since I had been talking to three Indian journalists over lunch only hours earlier," Bacher said from Randjesfontein.

Bacher, now the director of the cricket World Cup 2003, was in Randjesfontein watching the visiting Indian side play their first game against an invitation XI. The team had arrived here early last week.

"I asked the journalists how my old friend Madhav was, and they told me he was well. At 3.30 p.m. the same afternoon, one of the journalists phoned me to say that Madhav had died. I immediately called Amrit Mathur, who was the manager of the Indian team when we first re-established contact with India in 1991, and he too was devastated, as he had been playing golf with Madhav Saturday," Bacher said.

Bacher said he had asked Mathur to convey to the Scindia family the condolences of all cricket fans and officials in South Africa, including that of the 2003 World Cup Committee and the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA).

"Madhavrao Scindia was highly respected and held in high regard by all in South African cricket. His international stature rendered him, in my opinion, quite capable of becoming the president of the ICC," Bacher added.

"I first met Madhav when he was president of the Indian cricket board when South Africa undertook its first tour of Indian in 1991. He was a most impressive man, with a commanding presence. He had the most amazing negotiation skills and with his quiet diplomacy, achieved so much.

"It was Madhav who was instrumental in getting us to undertake a tour within just seven days after Pakistan withdrew from a planned tour of India. We were having lunch together at his home, when the seed was sown for the tour."

The manager of the Indian side currently in South Africa, M.K. Bharghava, said while he felt a great personal sense of loss, he did not think the team members would be affected very badly.

"Obviously the entire team and I are terribly sorry about the sudden and tragic loss of a young and dynamic leader like Scindia," Bharghava told IANS. "I personally see it as a great loss, because I served with him for 15 years as secretary while he was head of cricket in Madhya Pradesh.

"As for the team, I think some of them are so young that their closest links to him are just from knowing his name. Some of them would not know him at all, since he was president of the cricket (board) eight years ago," he said.

--Indo-Asian News Service

Mail Cricket Editor