AUG 2- It may seem Narayanswami Srinivasan fears no one, having defied the judiciary, police, ministry officials and a section of the BCCI by again assuming charge as the cricket board’s president and openly declaring his intent to chair its working committee meeting on Friday.
But the controversial BCCI president fears the wrath of planet Rahu more than any other person.
An extremely superstitious and god-fearing man, Srinivasan has specifically sent out instructions to all state associations on details of the working committee meeting, its venue and, most importantly, the time: 12.05 pm.
According to astrology, there will be a Rahu kaal between 10.30 am and 12 pm on Friday, and any activity carried out during that time will not have a fruitful or positive conclusion.
Expected to face severe opposition to his unilateral decision-making and reinstatement of his duties as president, Srinivasan specifically wants the meeting to begin only after noon to ensure that the meeting goes through smoothly for him.
“Srini wants the meeting to begin only at 12.05. In fact, there has been so many meetings which happened under Srini which had the timing marked as 12.05. Maybe, it’s another of his many superstitious beliefs or his good luck charm but from my understanding of the current situation, it will not be easy for Srini to get away with all that he’s doing and saying in public,” a top BCCI official told Mail Today.
In his long list of superstitious beliefs, Srinivasan has a personal astrologer, who is reportedly paid almost one crore rupees annually and takes his advice before making all decisions.
Srinivasan always performs puja in the temple situated inside the MA Chidambaram Stadium before every international match in Chennai for its smooth conduct, and also before every Chennai Super Kings (CSK) game for good luck.
In fact, Srini consciously never watches any CSK match sitting in the stadium and comes to the stadium exactly at the time when the match finishes.
Once, rather than taking a direct flight to Mumbai, the CSK team was made to travel all the way back from Dharamsala to Chennai, and take the flight next day from Chennai to Mumbai because that day was not deemed auspicious.
Reportedly, apparel sponsor Nike was forced to dump its new Team India T20 jerseys launched after great fanfare because after that, the team’s fortunes and form nose-dived.
With lot of public angst against Srinivasan, it remains to be seen if the 12.05 pm meeting can indeed mark a new beginning in his cricket administrative career.
INDIA TODAY
