Friday, October 5, 2001 Jagmohan Dalmiya, Jagmohan Dalmiya. Jagmohan Dalmiya, Jagmohan Dalmiya. Keep whispering it under your breath and it turns into a mantra. Jagmohan the Indestructible exudes inner peace whatever the mountain of sins hovering to crush him. After he stepped down as president of ICC, match-fixing and broadcasting-rights deals were to cloak him in disgrace. Doordarshan haunts him and CBI sleuths have knocked at his door. But Jagmohan, untouchable in life if not caste, has kept himself in business as chairman of the Asian Cricket Foundation, a self-appointed group of busybodies intent on "developing" Asian cricket.

Now he has stolen the presidency of India's cricket board with the alacrity of a stealth fighter. Tainted he may be, but Dalmiya's magic is such that on paper he was set to lose last week's vote, yet you could not see him losing. After all, this is the man who pickpocketed the presidency of ICC, the highest office in the game, on the back of votes from associate members. George Bush and Tony Blair should ask him for a seminar on coalition-building.

Whatever his failings, proven or suspected, Dalmiya has consistently championed a global vision for cricket, taking it beyond its historical boundaries. Aware of the financial bounty that awaits, he has an impulse to expand horizons which makes you wonder how much time he will spend mulling over the finer points of India's domestic game. Does not the world's largest cricketing nation deserve more than a shoddy team that flatters at home and folds abroad?

Don't be surprised if he engineers an about-turn in India's cricket foreign policy. India has recently shunned tournaments in Sharjah, Singapore, and Canada, but Dalmiya's gut instinct will urge him to revive those jaunts. "That is just three countries," he said this week. "If the government doesn't want it, we will have to abide, however, that doesn't stop us from going to other 103 countries."

TV moguls, tournament organisers and bookies will be licking their lips. Zahid Noorani, chief executive of the CBFS, the organising committee for Sharjah, has already expressed his glee at Dalmiya's new job: "All I can say is that CBFS have enjoyed a great relationship with Dalmiya and it's bound to grow further with his election."

Many fans will be pleased too. Cricket is a drug, and match-fixing is a harmful side-effect that fans barely understand, even as they overdose. Dalmiya's organisation, be it ICC, ACF or BCCI, will no doubt line its pockets. But good could come of this if Dalmiya is able to persuade the Indian government to play bat and ball with Pakistan. It is a case he has already championed, notably for the Asian Test Championship match that was cancelled last month. Would you expect any less from the head of the ACF?

He is on good terms with the Pakistani board. The PCB chairman, Lt-General Tauqir Zia, offered instant congratulations on Dalmiya's latest coup: "I have enjoyed immense relationship with Jaggu when he was the president of ICC and now as the head of ACF. Our views are very similar on many issue." When Shoaib Akhtar was first called for throwing, it was Dalmiya the PCB turned to. He did not let them down then, but can Jaggu face down the Indian government?

While tension persists in the region, and more teams follow New Zealand's example and pull out of tours, Asian countries cannot afford to spurn each other. A love of cricket unites more than a billion and a half people from Kabul to Dhaka, from Mohali to Galle. Dalmiya has the acumen and the vision to wake India from its isolationism. The vexed question of playing Pakistan will be his day of judgement. Start the mantra.

Kamran Abbasi, born in Lahore, brought up in Rotherham, is assistant editor of the British Medical Journal. His Asian View appears on Wisden.com every Friday. More Kamran Abbasi
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