Mission accomplished, says Aditya Verma

An elated Bihar Cricket Association secretary Aditya Verma, the petitioner in the spot-fixing and betting case in the Indian Premier League (IPL), said on Monday his "mission" of getting rid of N. Srinivasan from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has finally been "accomplished".

"Mission finally accomplished," Verma told IANS over phone.

"I've earlier said if you have to save BCCI, then you must get rid of Srinivasan and this is what happened today which makes me happy. My long and tiring fight has finally borne results."

Verma was instrumental in dragging the former BCCI president to the Supreme Court in connection with the IPL spot fixing scandal. He said he was happy to see veteran cricket administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya take over the reins of the country's premier cricket body.

He hoped Dalmiya's second term in office (first ended in 2004) will help bring back the clean image of the organisation.

"Dalmiya is what the board needed at this time. BCCI will hopefully get back its lost image and tread on the right path from now on," said Verma.

Apart from the 74-year-old Dalmiya, the other new entrant is Haryana's Anirudh Choudhary who has been appointed the new treasurer while Himachal Pradesh's Anurag Thakur was named the board secretary.

Thakur, a nominee from the Pawar faction, won the secretary's post by one vote. His opponent was Baroda's Sanjay Patel, favoured by Srinivasan.

"Anurag is young and energetic and I hope he will ensure BCCI remains corruption free. My heartiest congratulations to the man who has already proved himself to be a capable administrator by the way he has led the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association as its president. I am sure Bihar cricket will get a very good deal from him," added Verma.