Osman Samiuddin
India Test captain makes the High and Mighty list
Every year, India Today publishes a list of the 50 most powerful people in India – the High and Mighty.
The political and current affairs weekly is arguably the most influential of its kind in the country and has been compiling this list for 13 years now.
They deliberately exclude politicians, prime ministers, bureaucrats and political party leaders from the list.
Nor do they rely on wealth alone, though judging by its list, they clearly give it serious weight. “What we look for are individuals based on their ability to extend influence beyond their regular work and their immediate operational arena,” the magazine’s editor-in-chief Aroon Purie writes in the issue.
This year’s list, as usual, is dominated by captains of industry and also includes other usual suspects: religious gurus, IT giants, political activists, start-up entrepreneurs and, of course, Bollywood stars.
There is only one sportsman in the top 50 and, well, it should not be too difficult to guess the sport or the identity of the personality. This year, at number 29, is Virat Kohli, India’s starriest batsman, Test captain and captain-in-waiting in the other formats.
It is Kohli’s first appearance on the list and says all you need to know about the shift in balance of power in the game.
Sachin Tendulkar was a regular in the list for years, as was MS Dhoni and it feels, this year, as if the mantle of India’s biggest cricket personality has passed on definitively.
This is now Kohli’s India, not Tendulkar’s, not Dhoni’s.
Is it surprising, given cricket’s place in India, that there is only one cricketer in there? Maybe.
But take note: Mukesh Ambani, who has topped the list six years, including the last three and has never been ranked lower than three, is the owner of the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
