Veteran sports administrator and former acting secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Amitabh Choudhary passed away on Tuesday following a heart attack in Ranchi.
Choudhary, 58, helmed the JSCA for more than a decade and also served as the BCCI’s joint-secretary. During the Committee of Administrators’ (CoA) regime in the BCCI, Choudhary also served as its acting secretary.
According to reports, Choudhary suffered a heart attack during his morning walk and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was declared brough dead.
Notably, Choudhary was the main force behind the iconic JSCA Stadium in Ranchi and played a key role in developing infrastructure for Jharkhand cricket. In 2019, Choudhary could not contest the JSCA elections due to the cooling-off period clause enforced by the Supreme Court in the wake of the Lodha committee recommendations.
An ex-IPS, Chaudhary was instrumental in getting the first-class status for Jharkhand after BCCI disbanded the Bihar Cricket Association in the early 2000s.
Choudhary was also the administrative manager of the Indian team many times however, the most famous was during the 2005 tour of Zimbabwe, where the much publicised fall-out happened between the then captain Sourav Ganguly and then coach Greg Chappell. It was during that tour when Chappell had sent an e-mail to BCCI president Sharad Pawar, recommending exclusion of Ganguly and few other senior players.
Later, working under the CoA in the Indian borad, he faced tougher administrative challenges as he had to deal with the Virat Kohli-Anil Kumble saga which saw the latter’s acrimonious exit as Team India’s head coach.