India, cricket's superpower, generates 70 per cent of the international game's revenue due to its vast television audiences, allowing the BCCI to have its way in all significant decisions on the game's future.

Other international boards dread falling out with the BCCI, aware that the sale of television rights for India series is vital to their survival.

The hearing is yet another headache for Srinivasan, 68, who had to nominally step aside from the BCCI in June - curtailing his powers - when his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was named as a suspect in a corruption inquiry.

On Saturday, Meiyappan was charged with cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy as part of a police investigation into claims of spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League (IPL), a Twenty20 tournament run by the BCCI.

Meiyappan had been team chief of the Chennai Super Kings when the scandal broke. The Super Kings are a top IPL team, owned by Srinivasan.

But while the charging of Meiyappan has emboldened Srinivasan's critics, it has not stopped the man himself from seeking to resume his powerful role.

"I am not disqualified and neither can you push me out," Srinivasan said after charges were laid against Meiyappan. "If Gurunath is wrong, the law will take its own course. It is up to him to defend his position. It has got nothing to do with me."

However, many of the game's leading figures, including former BCCI president Inderjit Singh Bindra, argue that such a stance is untenable and Srinivasan has no moral or ethical right to seek another term.

"The IPL scandal involving Gurunath and Srinivasan is much bigger in scope and dimension than the 2000 saga," Bindra tweeted, referring to the Hansie Cronje scandal that gripped cricket at the turn of the century.

The former South African captain, who was killed in a mystery plane crash two years later, was nabbed by Delhi police for fraternising with illegal bookmakers.

Ajay Shirke, who resigned as board treasurer in May as the scandal in India unfurled, told the Mumbai-based newspaper that the BCCI had become a "a laughing stock" with the allegations against Meiyappan.

Indian media, quoting the 11,500-page charge-sheet submitted in court by Mumbai police, reported that in one instance, Meiyappan told a bookmaker ahead of a match in Jaipur on May 12 that the Super Kings would score 130 to 140 runs and lose the game.

The team, led by Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, scored 141-5 in 20 overs and lost to Rajasthan Royals by five wickets with 17 balls to spare.

The scandal that involves several other matches has already seen two Rajasthan Royals players, test fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and upcoming spinner Ankeet Chavan, banned for life by the BCCI.

The wrote in an editorial that "given that Srinivasan is the owner of Chennai Super Kings and the father-in-law of Meiyappan, it is risible that he is now on the verge of being reinstated as BCCI chief".

But even his critics concede Srinivasan is a wily operator who has crucially managed to keep the support of the country's six southern cricket associations, which include his own Tamil Nadu state.

As part of a rotational system, it is the southern associations' turn to choose the president, and they all maintain that Srinivasan cannot be held responsible for his son-in-law's actions.

A BCCI insider said Srinivasan would "not take victory for granted", but nevertheless had reason to be confident.

"When strings are pulled, the puppets fall into line," said the source.