Mahanaryaman Scindia becomes youngest president of MP Cricket Association

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia's son and Gwalior Division Cricket Association vice-president Mahanaryaman Scindia was on Monday unanimously elected president of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA), an official said.

The 29-year-old member of the erstwhile Gwalior royal family has become the youngest chief of the MPCA, established in 1957, and is a third-generation royal to head the cricket body, he said.

Talking to PTI, the MPCA's chief administrative officer, Rohit Pandit, said that all posts were filled unopposed in the association's elections. The newly elected executive will be formally ratified during the annual general meeting on Tuesday, after which office-bearers will assume charge, he said.

Pandit said the new executive includes Vineet Sethia as vice-president, Sudhir Asnani as secretary, Arundhati Kherkire as joint secretary and Sanjeev Dua as treasurer.

Sandhya Agarwal, Prasoon Kanamdikar, Rajiv Risodkar, and Vijesh Rana are elected committee members, while the cricket committee comprises Pradeep Banerjee, Ramnik Patel and Abhay Laghate.

Outgoing MPCA president Abhilash Khandekar told PTI, "In the last six years, the MPCA has garnered several milestones. I hope the newly elected executive under Mahanaryaman Scindia's leadership will take the association to new heights."

Mahanaryaman's involvement in cricket administration has grown in the past three years. He was appointed GDCA vice-president and became a lifetime MPCA member in 2022. He also serves as the president of the Madhya Pradesh T20 League (MPL), launched in Gwalior in 2024.

The Scindia family has held sway over the cricket administration in the state for decades. Mahanaryaman's late grandfather, Madhavrao Scindia, and his father, Jyotiraditya Scindia, also served as MPCA presidents.

State Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya had challenged the Scindia family's dominance in the MPCA about 15 years ago. In the 2010 elections, Jyotiraditya Scindia defeated Vijayvargiya by 70 votes in a contest for the president's post, with the Scindia faction winning all key executive positions.

Following the Lodha Committee recommendations, Jyotiraditya Scindia and senior administrator Sanjay Jagdale had to step down from MPCA posts in January 2017 as both had completed more than nine years in the managing committee, making them ineligible to continue.