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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is holding its 90th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Tuesday (18 October) in Mumbai. There are many key points to be discussed in the meeting. BCCI’s candidate for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Chairman post was also supposed to be one of the key talking points at the AGM. However, it seems the board members have decided not to send any representation.
Rumours were rife that Sourav Ganguly’s name will be sent for the ICC Chairman’s post after the former India captain was stripped of the BCCI President post. However, the board has decided against it, according to the latest reports. BCCI will not be having any representation of its own for the Chairman’s election and will back the current man, Greg Barclay.
The only big point of speculation was who the two BCCI representatives will be at the ICC. “While Jay Shah is expected to be India’s representative at the ICC Board meetings, the BCCI has made it clear now that it will give the ICC chairmanship a miss and back a second term for New Zealand’s Greg Barclay,” claimed an Indian Express report.
Earlier, on Monday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that she will request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow the former India cricketer and BCCI chief to contest for the position of ICC chairperson.
Notably, Ganguly’s impeding exit from BCCI has sparked a debate among political parties in West Bengal. Trinamool Congress (TMC) and others have alleged that Ganguly’s refusal to join Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) caused his exit from the Indian cricket board. Last year, Ganguly’s name made the rounds in political circle as a probable BJP chief ministerial candidate if the party won the Assembly polls. At the time, the TMC also reportedly tried to get Ganguly to join it.
Meanwhile, the former Indian cricketer felt tremendous pressure from both sides in the run-up to the polls and subsequently decided not to take the plunge into politics.