Chirayu Amin low-key, clean cricket administrator

NEW DELHI - Indian cricket board vice-president Chirayu Amin finds himself in the spotlight with his sudden shift to the multi-billion dollar Indian Premier League (IPL) as its interim chairman in place of the suspended high-flying commissioner Lalit Modi.

But the 62-year-old Amin is no stranger to cricket administration or marketing affairs.

Amin, who has always maintained a low-key, is the president of the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) and is also the chief managing director (CMD) of the Baroda-based 100-year-old pharmaceutical giant Alembic Ltd, which has a turnover of Rs.1200 crore.

He is also a member of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) marketing committee.

With some of the big names in the Governing Council, Amin’s appointment came as a surprise as he made his entry in the cricket politics in 2004. Since his debut in cricket administration, Amin has kept a clean record, and has finally been awarded for it.

Amin Monday said the Governing Council’s priority now was to look at planning the game next year.

On Modi, he said: “The Governing Council has issued a show cause notice to Mr Modi and now he will have a chance to reply to all the allegations. Once he has done that, the council will look at it. It has all been public, I have nothing more to comment. Let’s wait for his reaction.”

Amin also held out an assurance that the IPL will be clean and transparent.

“I can assure you that any new deals - and whatever deals have been been happening - will be enquired into with total transprancy. The Governing Council is hell-bent on giving total transparency to all deals and that will be our job for some time,” he said.

Amin holds a BSc and an MBA and is also chairman of Shreno Ltd., Alembic Glass Industries Ltd. and Paushak Limited. He is director of United Phosphorous Ltd. and an independent non-executive director of Elecon Engineering Company Ltd.