Sourav Ganguly, one of India's most decorated captains, on Wednesday took over as the 39th president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at its annual general meeting in Mumbai, bringing to an end a two-year reign of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators.
Ganguly, 47, was the unanimous nomination for the post of BCCI President along with Indian Home Minister Amit Shah's son Jay as Secretary. Arun Dhumal, younger brother of India’s junior Finance Minister Anurag Thakur, is the new BCCI treasurer. No balloting was held for the appointments to the three posts since all candidates emerged unopposed after weeks of hectic parleys.
Ganguly is the first India cricketer after the Maharaja of Vizianagaram to become the President of BCCI. Assumption of charge as President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India on Wednesday marks former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly’s remarkable journey from the dressing room to the board room of one of the world’s richest sport bodies.
Ganguly played his cards well off the field to emerge as the unanimous candidate for one of the top jobs in world cricket: BCCI presidency.
The 47-year-old's reaching the highest echelon of cricket administration in India once again drove home the old adage 'once a leader, always a leader.'
Ganguly became captain of the national team when Indian cricket was going through its darkest hour in the wake of the 2000 match-fixing scandal. Not one to shirk responsibility, Ganguly took on the challenges head on and moulded a bunch of talented youngsters into world beaters while at the same time striking a fine working relationship with the heavyweights of that era.
He injected a certain aggression and killer instinct among the players in a way none has done before him. Be it forming one of the most destructive opening partnership in one-day internationals with legendary Sachin Tendulkar or backing greenhorns like Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag, Ganguly was always sure of what he was doing.
However, to successfully complete his transition from a big player to a top administrator, Ganguly will need to combat a variety of challenges facing Indian cricket at the moment. He did that as a player, he will very much fancy himself to do the same as an administrator.
Ganguly, who led India to 21 Test wins and the final of the 2003 World Cup and has score more than 18,000 runs in international cricket, is no novice to cricket administration. He brings to the BCCI a wealth of experience as President and Secretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal.
He also knows a thing or two about the BCCI, having served as member of its technical committee and the Cricket Advisory Committee alongside Tendulkar and VVS Laxman. Taking over at the end of a tumultuous 33-month reign of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), he will have only nine months to resurrect the image of Indian cricket, which took a beating following the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal.
In his own words, Ganguly's captaincy was mostly about instinct and being aggressive, and his leadership will again be put to test when he seeks to regain India's position of reverence in the corridors of the International Cricket Council (ICC). There is a likelihood of the Ganguly-led regime engaging in a bitter turf war with the ICC since the world governing body's proposed Futures Tours Programme (FTP) could significantly affect the BCCI's revenue.
The ICC leaving India out of its working group, formed recently to figure out a new governance structure for the world body, can only complicate the situation further. To fix the issues facing Indian cricket at the moment, he will have time till September next year when he goes into the mandatory cooling-off period.
Political analysts say Sourav’s anointment as the BCCI President could be a stepping stone to his taking a plunge in politics and being ready for a much bigger role in West Bengal where fresh assembly elections are due in 2021. There is speculations that Sourva might be the Bharatiya Janata Party’s chief ministerial face in that election but he denied it.
Although Sourav’s meeting with BJP President Amit Shah in New Delhi last week had set off speculations about the former captain’s political career, the popular “dada” of Indian cricketer also made it a point to cite his proximity of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and how he exchanges SMSes with her when it is warranted.
