MUMBAI: Ajinkya Naik is set to continue his innings as the president of the Mumbai Cricket Association. Naik will be elected unopposed for the top post of the Mumbai Cricket Association as all the other candidates in the race withdrew on Monday.The MCA elections on Nov 12 will now see polls for all the other posts. Eight candidates, including former India women’s team captain Diana Edulji, had filed their nominations for the post of the MCA elections. However, on Monday, the last date of withdrawing nominations, all the other seven candidates withdrew their candidature.“My heart lies in Maidan Cricket — I will work for every player, every club, and for the bright future of Mumbai cricket. My heart lies in Maidan Cricket — I will work for every player, every club, and for the bright future of Mumbai cricket,” Ajinkya Naik told TOI on Monday. “I withdrew my candidature in the interest of continuity,” Edulji said.Naik served as the MCA president from July 2024, when he beat Sanjay Naik to win the presidential election after the previous MCA president Amol Kale’s untimely death, and as the MCA secretary from 2022 to 2024. He was an MCA apex council member from 2019-22. During his tenure as the MCA president, the association unveiled the Sharad Pawar Cricket Museum and built life-size statues of cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar and Sharad Pawar, a former ICC, BCCI and MCA president. A few months back, he also announced that the MCA would build a life-size statue of former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar at the Wankhede Stadium. A young, popular administrator who has proved his credentials, Naik also introduced several reforms and steps to boost the MCA’s image.Apart from Edulji, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLC, Chief Whip in the Legislative Council, and Mahayuti Coordinator Shri Prasad Lad, MCA Apex Council members Jitendra Awhad (NCP-SP MLA), Milind Narvekar (PA to former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray & Shiv Sena party secretary) and Suraj Samat, T20 Mumbai governing council chairman Vihang Sarnaik and former MCA joint secretary Shahalam Shaikh all withdrew their candidature for the presidential post.The MCA Vice-presidential election will see a contest between Awhad and Naveen Shetty, who is standing as an independent candidate. The secretary’s election will pit Shahalam Shaikh against former MCA secretary Unmesh Khanvilkar.Meanwhile, Rajdip Gupta, who runs the National Cricket Club (NCC), one of the oldest cricket clubs situated at the Cross Maidan, has been elected as the MCA’s new Mumbai T20 League chairman. Gupta, an established self-made entrepreneur of Route Mobile Limited, also owns two cricket franchises — Chennai Singams in the tennis cricket tournament Indian Street Premier League (ISPL) and North Mumbai Panthers in the Mumbai T20 league.
