On April 24, at the Taj Palace in Delhi, a meeting will take place that could decide the future course of Indian cricket.

It is a meeting of the BCCI executive committee -- and the agenda features innocuous items. For instance, should feeder cricket academies be zone-based, or should each association have one?

But that is just on the surface -- it is the undercurrents that are really interesting. Because the meeting promises to be a showdown -- make that a final showdown -- between the factions headed by BCCI president Dr A C Muthiah, and Jagmohan Dalmiya.

The signals are clear. Raj Singh Dungarpur, who is the visible face of the Muthaiah camp, came up with the idea of having five zonal academies. And Lele, who is to the Dalmiya camp what Dungarpur is to the rival faction, promptly blasted the idea, came up with his own version, and threatened to "attack Dungarpur" at the upcoming meeting.

For a while now, Muthiah has focussed his energies on ending the 'remote control' regime of Dalmiya -- in the view of the board president and his adherents, cricket in the country cannot go forward until Dalmiya's interference is ended. Dalmiya, for his part, has been silent for a while -- but Lele's recent threat, and his high profile meeting with Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi in Delhi last week, are clear indications that the former ICC chairman is preparing for a final battle to wrest back control.

It is in this context that Senior Cricket Correspondent Faisal Shariff spoke to Raj Singh Dungarpur. Excerpts:

You have made a call for zonal cricket academies. Could you explain your thinking?

India is a huge country. But in the existing structure, only 20 promising youngsters receive training at the National Cricket Academy. Now this is unfair -- there is plenty of talent out there, and we need to find ways to tap it, harness it. So, imagine, if we have five zonal academies, with 20 youngsters in each undergoing intensive, high-quality training, we will be building up a bigger talent base. If the national academy has given four or five players to the team already, imagine the possibilities of having five more high quality academies. We could end up with an embarrassment of riches!

As I see it, the zonal academies are merely the second step; the next is state academies. I see the BCCI subsidising them to an extent, with the respective state cricket associations taking care of the rest of the expenditure.

But Australia has only one academy, and it is doing fine...?

True, Australia's academy produces most of its players; they have a very good plan in place. But you also have to remember that Australia has only 7 states, so it is easier for one academy to service them all. That is not the case with India.

Again, I must say that for all the hype, I was pretty disappointed when I went to Australia earlier this year and checked out the academy there. They have a gym in one place, they swim somewhere else, the nets are in a third place; it is all pretty disjointed. In that sense, our own NCA is much better. In fact, Rod Marsh, head coach of the NCA, admitted as much.

You have to remember further that the NCA, in its present form, with its base at the Karnataka State Cricket Association, is a temporary arrangement -- the KSCA has already helped us acquire 25 acres of land some 20 kms from the Chinnaswamy stadium, and it is here that the final academy will be built. Dr Muthiah's vision, I must say, is fantastic -- this is part of his Vision 2001 statement.

Talking of the Vision 2001 plan, nothing seems to have been implemented yet -- for instance, there is still no media manager...?

I agree that there have been delays, but the fault does not lie with the board president. There are people within the board creating road blocks to progress. Anyway, to answer your question, Dr. Muthiah has stated that a media manager will be appointed within the next 15 days. I am not on that committee, so I am only telling you what Dr Muthiah told me.

All these years, we've heard that the board is like "one big happy family" -- are you now telling us that this is not true, that there are factions within the board?

I would say that the board president should be seen like, say, the prime minister of India. He is the chief, but there is a working committee, and since it functions on the basis of majority vote, it is not always possible for the president to push things through.

And yes, there is a small segment within the BCCI that has been trying hard to block every single thing that Dr Muthiah is trying to do. He is from the progressive school of thought; he has succeeded even in areas where I had failed when I was board president. For instance, he managed to get a foreign coach overcoming all that resistance, he brought in Marsh as consultant, he has begun the process of getting artificial surfaces...

So why then is this 'small segment' blocking progress?

I don't want to get into too much detail here, but I must say that there is what I can only call an 'Eastern' influence at work. There is this gentleman who not so long ago held power in the BCCI. Even when he was out of it and heading some other body, he held the remote control -- but once Dr Muthiah took over, that is not the case, the remote control doesn't work any more. It is this gentleman and his group, who have been trying to sabotage the good work done by Muthiah.
Muthiah is now into his second year and already, during this term, he has accomplished more than he could during his first year, despite the road blocks. I can safely promise you that during the third term, it is he who will be calling all the shots -- and then you will see a real difference.

Lele says he is going to "attack you" over your idea of zonal academies. Any comments?

Lele is a good friend of mine, he wouldn't say such things about me. Even if he has, no matter, we will sort it all out on the 24th, when we have that meeting in Delhi.

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