Narenda Modi becomes Gujarat cricket chief

Narendra Modi, the Gujarat chief minister, has been elected president of his state cricket association. His entry into cricket administration follows in the footsteps of several other high-profile Indian politicians like the ICC president-in-waiting Sharad Pawar, a senior federal minister, and Delhi cricket chief Arun Jaitley, a senior member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Congress party's Narhari Amin had long controlled the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) but Modi's election puts the BJP in charge. "I express my gratitude to the members of the GCA who have elected me unopposed," Modi said after winning the election.

"I will sit with other members of GCA to form a blueprint on development of cricket. We will see how we can give it a professional touch by harnessing technology and how to develop the game through an integrated approach. The popularity of the game of cricket can be used to attract the youth to other sporting activity as well," he said. "There is much more to do in cricket beyond playing the game with ball and bat on the field."

Gujarat finished a creditable second in their group of the Ranji Trophy Super league in 2008-09 before bowing out in the quarter-finals.