Seeking planetary alignment to keep his cricket world intact
N Srinivasan doesn’t believe in leaving anything to chance. Making regular trips to temples or adhering to superstitions, the sidelined BCCI president evaluates every option at his disposal.
Faced with a tricky Supreme Court hearing on November 24, and impending re-election next month, Srinivasan is banking on astrology to help him sail through the next two months. The
postponement of the annual meeting to December 17 was announced on Tuesday afternoon, but the date was decided in the morning, well before the emergent working committee meeting had even started.
Srinivasan flew in an astrologer on Monday evening, who left Chennai on Tuesday afternoon. After consulting him, the AGM date was tweaked. “Srinivasan wanted to hold the AGM on December 15. But then the astrologer advised that the date was never going to help his presidential prospects since a change in planetary positions was expected,” a top BCCI official told HT. “Once the astrologer told Srinivasan that December 17 is a very strong date for him, the date of the AGM was finalised.”
However, the AGM is scheduled almost a month after the next Apex Court hearing (Nov 24), which will consider the reply by Srinivasan to the Justice Mukul Mudgal report’s finding that he did not act despite an incident of Players Code of Conduct violation coming to his notice.
The astrologer reportedly warned Srinivasan that it could be tough going at the hearing. “The astrologer told Srinivasan that the date is tricky, which obviously upset him because he is aware of the Supreme Court’s power,” the official said. “The astrologer then gave Srinivasan a list of remedies to counter the negative effects of the date.”
Having taken into account the planet positions, the ICC chairman will hope his cricket world is not turned upside down.