One of the most profitable revenue streams of the Indian underworld in recent years has been extortion. Vast underworld empires, mostly based in Dubai and Karachi, have been built on the basis of this very practice. And Jagmohan Dalmiya is one of the most masterful exponents of this fine art.

When the Mike Denness controversy erupted, Dalmiya reportedly threatened the South African board that India would withdraw from the 2003 World Cup. Gerald Majola and company promptly complied with Dalmiya, and agreed to stop Denness from officiating in the Centurion match.

Dalmiya, in charge of the richest cricket board in the world, knows how to hit 'em where it hurts - the bottom line. And that's exactly what he did to the ECB to wangle an extra one-dayer out of them.

Kerry Packer may have made one-day cricket a commercial success, but it was Jagmohan Dalmiya who turned that form of the game into a money-making machine. In his time, India played an average of 40 one-day games a year, and "masala cricket" at venues like Sharjah, Toronto, Dhaka et al proliferated, as the sport was turned into a game of TV rights, and it was all just so much fast food.

Times seemed to be a-changin', when Dalmiya lost power at the ICC - after enriching the board's coffers and impoverishing the game - but he's back on top at the BCCI, and he's talking money again. One-day matches bring in a lot of moolah. Only five against England? Nonsense!

And so he refused to let India play the fourth Test in England as agreed on by his predecessor, AC Muthiah, even after both schedules - of England's tour to India and India's reciprocal visit - had been signed and sealed by both sides. Unless the ECB agreed to play an extra one-dayer.

The ECB, for whom the cancellation of the fourth Test would have meant financial disaster, had no choice but to agree. Of course, they would have been in the right to refuse Dalmiya, and insist on sticking to the pre-decided schedule. But who cares about right or wrong, you've got to be sensible and do what's best for yourself. As so many Mumbai businessmen and film-stars could attest to.

Dawood Ibrahim, India's biggest underworld figure, would have approved.

Amit Varma is assistant editor of Wisden.com, India.

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