Team India`s `lucky` manager Ranjib Biswal named IPL chief

Chennai: A witness to some of India`s most memorable triumphs in recent years, long-serving team manager Ranjib Biswal was on Sunday appointed chairman of the IPL in the Cricket Board`s AGM here.

Biswal has been with the Indian cricket team through some of its most memorable triumphs, including the 2011 50-over World Cup win at home. Chief of the Odisha Cricket Association, Biswal`s appointment to replace Rajiv Shukla, who resigned at the end of his tenure, was made after a long deliberation at a city hotel. The decision to appoint the IPL chairman took the longest time in the Annual General Meeting, given that veteran Jagmohan Dalmiya`s name was doing the rounds before the AGM. But Dalmiya`s age, 73, would have put him at a disadvantage in the demanding job. The 43-year-old Biswal, however, would be better-equipped to deal with the week-after-week city-hopping during the IPL. Biswal was a part of the contingent that triumphed in the Champions Trophy in England close on the heels of the IPL-6 spot-fixing and betting scandal that rocked Indian cricket. The former Odisha cricketer was a team selector when the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Team India to the first Twenty20 World Championships in 2007. Often seen as a `lucky mascot` for the national cricket team, the BCCI, rattled by the IPL spot-fixing allegations, has now turned to Biswal to ensure players maintain discipline and abide by strict rules of behaviour during the Champions Trophy earlier this year. Biswal, a former `permanent manager` of the team who toured with the players for almost one and a half years till the 2011 World Cup, including tour to South Africa, ensured there was no unwanted attention on Dhoni and Co during the tournament in England a few months ago. The all-rounder has five first-class hundreds and 153 wickets in 41 matches and has also been the National Cricket Academy (NCA) chairman in the past. PTI