On Tuesday (October 11), at the epicenter of Indian Cricket Mumbai, the name of the new board members have been announced by the BCCI officials. Almost all of the old chairs remained same. Some even received promotion letters. But, the only person who lost his ‘Wicket’ was Sourav Ganguly.
Well-wishers are of opinion that Ganguly has been removed from his position under engraved politics. Dada, the icon of Bengal is now in no position of BCCI, even though the term of Ganguly’s presidency was extended for another three years by the new Supreme Court law.
In the air, the reason behind his termination was because he did not join the BJP. After becoming president in 2019, BJP wanted to bring Ganguly into Bengal politics. However, he repeatedly stated publicly that he does not want to join politics. Even after Home Minister Amit Shah’s dinner at Ganguly’s Behala’s house, the equation did not change. At the end, the only question that hangs up is whether Ganguly’s aloofness from politics compelled him to sacrifice his position?
Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah will continue to be the board secretary. While, Anurag Thakur’s brother Arun Dhumal no longer wanted to be the treasurer. He is therefore being made IPL chairman. Vice President Position will be chaired by Rajeev Shukla. Roger Binny, a teammate of Kapil Dev’s World Cup-winning cricket team, will be made the new president in his place. Only Ganguly, after giving handful to Indian cricket will be coming back with nothing.
On the other pass for Ganguly, the chance of becoming ICC president is bare minimum. According to reliable sources, two names have been floated as Sourav’s rivals; Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and former board chairman N Srinivasan. Anurag must be ahead of this, if he can go to ICC despite of his busy schedule.
Srinivasan was one-time boss of the Indian board as well as the ICC. However, son-in-law Gurunath Mayappan’s IPL betting allegations, country-wide demands for resignation, ‘media trial’, etc. ousted him from both places in the face of endless pressure. Thereafter, the Committee of Administrators took over the management of the Board as per the Supreme Court’s order. But, if the things go the way it is moving, Ganguly might just be a name in a few days.
