Ganguly, captain who taught Team India to believe, set to be BCCI chief
NEW DELHI: When he took over as India cricket captain at the turn of the century, with the game in turmoil due to the match-fixing scandal, Sourav Ganguly rebuilt the team by betting on future stars, shielding them when the going got rough, and galvanising India’s batting stalwarts.
Almost two decades later, the 47-year-old, equipped with the rare skill to keep his constituency in good cheer while making blunt assessments, is on the verge of taking over as the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Ganguly will achieve a rare double when his anointment is formalised on October 23, the date when the election for the board’s top post will be a mere formality. Ganguly will become only the second India skipper to take over as fulltime BCCI president, emulating the Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram, popularly known as Vizzy. Sunil Gavaskar was briefly the board’s interim president in 2014 following a Supreme Court directive.
Vizzy’s reign as captain was largely ornamental. He led India for three Tests on the 1936 England tour, and later became BCCI chief between 1954 and 56. Unlike Vizzy, Ganguly, the current Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president, takes over the country’s cricket administration, which is in a state of flux not too dissimilar from when he became India skipper.
Three former Pakistan skippers have also headed their cricket board — Abdul Hafeez Kardar (who played three of his 26 Tests for India), Javed Burki and Ijaz Butt. Another former Pakistan skipper, Majid Khan, was the CEO of the Pakistan board.
“It is a very important time in Indian cricket administration because of all what’s happened in the last three years,” Ganguly told reporters after filing his nomination at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai. “I’m happy to be in a position where I can make a difference. Hopefully, in the next few months we can put everything in place and bring back normalcy in Indian cricket.”
Ganguly’s team will include Jay Shah, a Gujarat State Cricket Association official and son of Union home minister Amit Shah, who is set to take over as secretary. Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association president Arun Dhumal, brother of former president of the cricketing body Anurag Thakur, will be the treasurer.
BCCI president Ganguly will have until only August 2020 — the strict tenure rules dictated by the justice RM Lodha committee report on BCCI reforms means he would have completed six years as a cricket administrator (Bengal and BCCI put together) and will have to step down for a three-year cooling off period before being eligible to hold office again.
Still, a new set of officebearers taking over would be the first step in restoring the normalcy Ganguly referred to. BCCI has been under the scanner since the 2013 IPL
spot-fixing scandal, and the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) will hand over administration to the elected office-bearers.
Ganguly’s upcoming presidency will be a much-needed image boost for BCCI, which has endured plenty of negative publicity. He will have to take along those in opposing camps, having emerged as the consensus candidate at a meeting on Sunday after former India batsman and experienced administrator from Karnataka Brijesh Patel was initially seen as the frontrunner for the job. He will also be under pressure from within to visibly restore BCCI’s influence in the International Cricket Council that many cricket officials felt was ceded under CoA.
Ganguly has vowed to take steps for the welfare of first-class cricketers, a group that has expanded after the board accorded recognition to many new states. The trickiest issue could still be the strict “conflict of interest” clause, which he criticised after falling foul of it as he held mentorship (since given up) of an IPL team and had taken up a role as a media commentator on the game.
As skipper, Ganguly took criticism of poor form as well as actions on his chin, never losing the smile. But he was no sitting duck by any means. In 2016, as the leading light in the Cricket Advisory Committee that picked the India coach, he pushed for former team mate Anil Kumble over incumbent Ravi Shastri. The subsequent public exchange of criticism between Shastri and Ganguly — even though Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman formed the rest of the panel — proved that.
It suggests Ganguly, mentored by the late cricket administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya, would be his own man as BCCI president, but one who is armed with the canny knack of showing the diplomacy required to help restore the credibility of the Indian cricket administration.
Former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar endorsed Ganguly’s choice. “He was an excellent player, very stylish. He got runs everywhere. He was an outstanding captain. I am very happy he will become BCCI president. Indian cricket is in good hands. He is a capable administrator which he has proved at CAB,” he said.