MUMBAI: Sourav Ganguly has promised a new start for the BCCI and to do what’s best for Indian cricket. He was speaking in Mumbai soon after assuming charge as BCCI president, marking the formal end to the tenure of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators.
Wearing his captain’s blazer – he is the first India captain to head the board in 65 years – he pointed to the similarities in the circumstances under which he became captain, in the wake of the match-fixing scandal, to pledge a clean administration. “I’ll do it the way I know, with no compromise on credibility and corruption. That’s the way I led India.”
Though his term is only for 10 months, he spoke of the issues piled up in his inbox. “Things need to be brought back in place, reforms need to be done, huge amounts of money need to be paid to state associations.”
“We don’t know what’s happened in the past three years, we weren’t part of it [BCCI], there were no AGMs or working committee meetings. We’ll take note of everything and do what’s best for Indian cricket.”
Ganguly pledged his support to India captain Virat Kohli, calling him “the most important man in Indian cricket”. “He wants to make this team the best in the world… We have to sit with him and see what he wants. We’ll support him in every way.”
Ganguly accepted his election result from the board’s electoral officer N Gopalaswami in the presence of the three outgoing CoA members and the state associations’ representatives. Ganguly and the other four office-bearers will now take over the board’s running from the CoA – currently comprising Vinod Rai, Diana Edulji and Lt Gen (retd) Ravi Thodge – which was supervising the board for the past 33 months.
“I’m totally satisfied because we are leaving the BCCI to the governing council and the administration,” Rai said after Ganguly’s formal assumption. “Five former players in the administration could never have been better. The president is one of our most successful captains, he has had five years at the CAB and is now taking over at the BCCI. There is no one better than him to take this position.
“We are agnostic about the family [relations of the office bearers] and other things. Our job was to hold the elections as per the constitution and we have done that.”
“I’m very happy that a former cricketer is taking over as president,” Edulji said at the headquarters before the meeting began. “I’m sure he will take the BCCI to greater heights.”
