Atul Rai And Kuljit Nijjar Will Take Up New Roles As USA Cricket Directors

Atul Rai and Kuljit Nijjar were elected as Club Director and Individual Director, respectively, by USA Cricket, who also announced their triumphs. After a brief absence, Rai, who had served as the League Director and Chair of the Cricket Committee from November 2018 to May 2020, will rejoin USA Cricket’s Board of Directors. Rai was formerly Chairman of the then-known USACA. Najjar, the creator of the Dallas Cricket League, will soon take up residence in a position of authority inside a national cricket regulating organization.

Rai defeated Nikhil Deshpande and Sushil Bhat in the race for the New York area, defeating incumbent Ajith Bhaskar, who received 51.30 percent of the vote.

The incumbent Suraj Vishwanathan, Anand Patel, Ganesh Sanap, and Babu Venkatachalapathy were all defeated by Nijjar, who received a commanding 52.40 percent of the vote. Regarding how long the newly elected directors will serve in their positions, USA Cricket remained silent.

Following a lawsuit filed by fellow board directors Venu Pisike and Srini Salver against them and three other board members, Vishwanathan and Bhaskar terminate their tumultuous terms on the board. The plaintiffs Pisike and Salver finally decided not to pursue the litigation, which had contested the re-election of Paraag Marathe as the board chairman and the repeal of an alleged illegal constitutional change regarding voting eligibility restrictions.

During the election’s canvassing stage, there was also frequent mudslinging on social media by different election stakeholders as well as in electronic media as a result of “managed” leaks from within the board.

Avinash Gaje, Sushil Nadkarni, Nadia Gruny, Catherine Carlson, Srini Salver, and Venu Pisike will also serve on the board of directors of USA Cricket in addition to departing chairman Paraag Marathe. Unopposed, Gruny won the election. The board will likely ask for the election of three independent directors before also electing a male player director, a league director, and an individual director.

After being inducted into a cash-strapped board that is in need of loans from their strategic partner ACE totaling close to $500,000 and $120,000 that are overdue with their travel agent, the new directors will have their work cut out for them.