Mahan Aryaman Scindia takes charge as youngest MPCA president

Indore | Mahan Aryaman Scindia, son of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, took charge as the youngest president of Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) on Tuesday and underlined the promotion of young players and women from rural areas as one of his priorities.

In the MPCA elections, all posts in the executive, including the president, were elected unopposed, and the entire executive was elected unanimously.

The newly-elected executive was finalised in the MPCA Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at Holkar Stadium in Indore.

Mahan Aryaman (29) has taken over the reins of this organisation as the youngest president in the history of MPCA, established in the year 1957.

"This is a very emotional moment for me because my late grandfather Madhavrao Scindia and my father Jyotiraditya Scindia have also shouldered the responsibility of MPCA president. I am happy that the MPCA family has reposed faith in me," he told reporters.

When asked about being elected unopposed president in the MPCA elections, the Gwalior royal said, "This is an example that MPCA is a family that takes decisions unanimously. MPCA is the only state cricket association in the country where elections are held in a family atmosphere." Mahan Aryaman said he would promote young players and women from rural areas to take cricket to new heights in Madhya Pradesh.

Before attending the AGM of MPCA, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Mahan Aryaman took darshan at the famous Khajrana Ganesh temple here.

Mahan Aryaman's involvement in the corridors of cricket has been on the rise in the last three years. He was appointed as the Vice President of GDCA in 2022. He was made a life member of MPCA in 2022 itself.

Mahan Aryaman also heads the Madhya Pradesh T20 cricket League (MPL), which he started from his hometown, Gwalior, in 2024.

The Scindia family has been involved in the MP cricket administration for a long time, and they have dominated the MPCA for the last several decades.

Madhya Pradesh minister Kailash Vijayvargiya had challenged the dominance of the Scindia family in the MPCA 15 years ago.

The 2010 elections for the post of MPCA president pitted Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kailash Vijayvargiya against each other, leading to Vijayvargiya's defeat by 70 votes. The Scindia camp routed the newly-formed Vijayvargiya faction and captured all the key posts in the executive.

Jyotiraditya Scindia was then the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry in the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, while Vijayvargiya was holding the same post in the MP government.

Due to the recommendations of the Lodha Committee, senior cricket administrators like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sanjay Jagdale had to vacate key posts in the MPCA in January 2017, as both of them held different positions in the managing committee for more than nine years.

Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress and joined the BJP in 2020.