New Delhi, September 21

The death of Indian cricket supremo Jagmohan Dalmiya was set to trigger a new leadership battle in the game’s global powerhouse, with experts today predicting vicious infighting between rival factions.

Dalmiya, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), died on Sunday at a hospital in Kolkata where he was being treated for a heart condition, with no designated successor. The 75-year-old was widely hailed on Monday as the man who transformed India into the most powerful nation in international cricket b by presiding over a big increase in TV revenues.

Observers also warned his death could signal fresh turmoil at the top of the board, with Narayanaswami Srinivasan, the controversial head of the International Cricket Council (ICC), tipped to try and wrest back power. His death came only months after his own return to the helm of the BCCI as a consensus candidate following Srinivasan’s effective toppling in a corruption scandal.

BCCI officials have refused to be drawn publicly on the succession. But veteran cricket commentator Ayaz Memon said Dalmiya was the only person who had been able “to keep a semblance of decorum intact” between rival factions. “The power struggle will be there between the two powerful factions. The only thing is it will be subterranean rather than out in the open,” Memon told AFP.

The Hindustan Times said supporters of both Srinivasan and his rival Anurag Thakur, who is BCCI secretary and the board’s de facto No 2, were gearing up for battle, predicting “tricky days ahead for the BCCI”. Srinivasan was forced to stand down as BCCI president after being found guilty of a conflict of interest over his ownership of a team in the Indian Premier League, the T20 tournament.

The blow was softened as he became chairman of the ICC but India’s pre-eminent position means it is usually the BCCI rather than the sport’s governing body that calls the shots on major decisions affecting the game. Thakur is the head of the youth wing of India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party as well as

being an MP, giving him crucial political clout in the battle against Srinivasan’s allies who remain on the board.