BHOPAL: It will be the youngest generation of the Scindia family -- the erstwhile royal family of Gwalior – which will head the cricketing establishment of Madhya Pradesh now.
Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia’s son, 29-year-old Mahanaryaman Scindia, became on Tuesday, the youngest president of the Indore-headquartered Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA).
Already the vice president of the Gwalior Division Cricket Association (GDCA), Mahanaryaman was elected the MPCA president unopposed on Tuesday.
Importantly, not just the post of the MPCA president, but the other office bearers of the 68-year-old cricketing body, including the vice-president, secretary, joint secretary, treasurer and executive body members, were also elected without any contest on Tuesday.
The newly-elected executive was finalized in the MPCA Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Tuesday.
Expressing gratitude for the new responsibility, the Scindia Jr said in Indore, ““It’s an emotional moment for me, as my grandfather and father have also served the MPCA in the same capacity in the past. The MPCA’s vision has been to promote cricket on rural level, promote women cricket, all divisions and districts should be brought with us and their concerns addressed. Next month there will be women's world cup matches in Indore. We already have a scouting system to find new and promising talents from the grass-roots, we will further strengthen it.”
“Under the team headed by the outgoing MPCA president Abhilash Khandekar, we’ve attained several milestones over the last six years, including the Ranji Trophy title triumph in 2022, last year’s women one-day trophy triumph and the establishment of the one of its kind cricket museum. We’ll carry the work forward,” Scindia said after offering prayers at the famous Khajrana Ganesh Temple in Indore, before taking up the new cricketing responsibility.
But the 29-year-old isn’t new to cricket administration, as he has been the Gwalior Division Cricket Association (GDCA) vice-president since 2022 and also became a lifetime member of the MPCA the same year. He also serves as the president of the Madhya Pradesh T20 League (MPL) which was launched in Gwalior in 2024.
The Doon School and Yale University alumnus, Scindia, symbolises the third generation of the powerful erstwhile royal family of Gwalior to head the MPCA as president.
His grandfather and former union minister Madhavrao Scindia headed the MPCA from 1982 till death in 2001, while father and present union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia held the same post reportedly from 2004 to 2019.
The present union minister’s tenure as the MPCA president was marked by 2010 MPCA polls, when he defeated current MP minister Kailash Vijayvargiya by 70 votes.
Interestingly, Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the BJP in 2020, after ending his decades long association with the Congress and is currently a key part of the Narendra Modi 3.0 cabinet.