The Nirvik Bureau, Bhubaneswar, 20 September 2026
Dynasty Cricket: Where the Pitch Changes, but the Surname Doesn’t
Odisha cricket has finally found the secret to consistency.
While other states waste time producing Ranji regulars, India A prospects and occasional international cricketers, the Odisha Cricket Association has perfected a far more reliable model: keep the administration safely within the family, keep elections permanently on the horizon, and keep promising cricketers wondering whether the selection camp is held somewhere beyond the Bay of Bengal.
For years, Odisha cricket has been run with the efficiency of a royal inheritance. First came Ashirbad Behera, the veteran custodian of the cricketing throne. Then, in a development that surprised absolutely no one except perhaps democracy, the family legacy appeared ready for its next innings through Sanjay Behera.
In Odisha cricket, it seems, the most difficult selection is not making the state team. It is selecting a surname other than Behera.
Stadiums? Why Build One When Colleges Have Lawns?
The association has also pioneered a revolutionary infrastructure policy: why burden the state with national-level stadiums when educational institutions already possess perfectly usable grounds?
KIIT, DRIEMS, SOA and assorted schools have generously become the unofficial landlords of Odisha cricket. Ranji matches, local tournaments and cricketing ambitions are regularly packed into institutional grounds with the flexibility of a college cultural festival.
A proper extra national-level stadium would require planning, investment, vision and, worst of all, completion. Naturally, these are dangerous ideas. Much safer to hire a campus ground, arrange a few chairs, put up a banner and announce that Odisha cricket is progressing magnificently.
After all, a stadium is only a building. A dynasty is an institution.
The state’s young players have adapted admirably. They no longer dream merely of representing India. First, they dream of finding a practice venue that has not been booked for an engineering fest, a convocation, or an inter-school football match.
Selection Camp: A Mythical Place Like Unicorns
Odisha has a long tradition of producing talent – fast bowlers, gritty batters, all-rounders, wicketkeepers and, most importantly, young people capable of carrying kitbags from one rented ground to another.
Yet, when national selection camps are discussed, Odisha players often appear as rarely as honest press conferences. Representing India is, of course, an even more ambitious target. It is not that Odisha lacks talent; it is simply that talent requires a pathway, and pathways are notoriously inconvenient when the road is occupied by administrative furniture.
The system appears to have a clear philosophy: do not worry about producing players for India. First ensure that the association produces enough meetings, affidavits, disputes, postponements and carefully preserved chairs.
A young cricketer may score centuries, take five-wicket hauls and train through heat, rain and indifferent facilities. But can he survive the true test of Odisha cricket – waiting for governance to wake up?
High Court Offers a Scorecard; Democracy Still Pads Up
Now, President Mohanty has reportedly submitted an affidavit to the High Court regarding elections. This should have been a straightforward matter in a sporting body: elections are held, office-bearers change, accountability arrives, cricket benefits.
But that is conventional cricket. Odisha cricket prefers the timeless format – Test Match Administration, where every over lasts several years and no one is ever quite sure when the declaration will come.
The reluctance to hold elections suggests a touching faith in continuity. Why risk the uncertainty of democracy when one can preserve the comforting predictability of familiar faces, familiar promises and familiar stagnation?
Still, hope is a stubborn opener. Perhaps one day a good thought will strike the powers that be: hold elections, build facilities, create transparent selections and let Odisha’s players compete on merit rather than merely survive on patience.
Until then, Odisha cricket remains in safe hands – so safe, in fact, that it has barely been allowed to move.
