Manhas new BCCI president, two fresh faces in selection committee

Mumbai: Mithun Manhas was elected unopposed as the new president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at the 94th AGM held at its Mumbai headquarters on Sunday.

“It’s an absolute honour to be the president of the world’s finest cricketing board. At the same time it is a huge responsibility. I give the assurance that I will be committed to do it to the best of my ability, dedication and passion. My only agenda is to take BCCI and Indian cricket forward,” the former domestic stalwart and Delhi skipper told reporters after the meeting.

The other important positions – Devajit Saikia as secretary, former India spinner Raghuram Bhatt as treasurer, Prabhtej Bhatia as joint secretary, Rajiv Shukla as vice-president, Arun Dhumal as IPL chairman – were also formalised without a contest.

Camps and electoral politicking are things of the past. In line with recent practice, for the third consecutive time, the new set of office-bearers were finalised at an informal meeting before filing of nominations.

Jaitley to head Infra committee

In another key appointment, Rohan Jaitley was named chairman of the eight-member BCCI Infrastructure Committee. Jaitley is also the president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA). Former Saurashtra captain and its association president Jaydev Shah was elected in the Apex Council.

Manhas, Bhatt and Shah all come with considerable playing experience in domestic cricket. More past players being roped into the administration is being seen as a positive trend, though how actively they are involved in decision-making differs. Manhas’ predecessor Roger Binny mostly took a backseat. Sourav Ganguly before him was more engaged.

“I have played a lot of cricket with Mithun, from our U19 days. I am very happy for him. I hope with what he has learnt in his career, he will be able to help the next generation of cricketers, to provide them with what they do not have,” said Harbhajan Singh, who attended the AGM for the first time, representing Punjab Cricket Association. “When a cricketer heads a cricket body, his experience comes in handy. It’s a good thing that we have been seeing it for three terms now. Nothing is bigger for a cricketer than to be able to give back to the game.”

Manhas missed the bus to play for India but went on to be recognised as a domestic heavyweight, leading a glittering list of internationals like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Ashish Nehra as Delhi captain. Born in Jammu, Manhas had been playing a key role in managing JKCA’s cricket affairs, something the new BCCI head felt would have “counted” in his favour.

Younger look to selection panel

The reconstituted India men’s selection committee will now sport a much younger look, and hopefully come with a fresher outlook. Former India left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha and left-arm pacer RP Singh, both 39, were picked to replace S Sharath, 52, and Subroto Banerjee, 56. Following these changes, the average age of the Ajit Agarkar-led committee is 43 years. Ajay Ratra and SS Das continue, besides Agarkar.

Agarkar, 47, has played for India with three of his committee colleagues. During his lone Test hundred, at the Lord’s Test of 2002, Ratra was his teammate. Agarkar and Das played a lot of Test cricket together. Agarkar and RP Singh were part of the 2007 T20 World Cup winning team. Ojha made his international debut a year after Agarkar retired. The selectors will soon be tasked with taking crucial calls on India’s ODI outlook in the lead up to the next World Cup.

TRDO

At the AGM, there were discussions on whether to revive the Talent Research Development Officers (TRDO) wing to assist the national selectors. The programme helped the selectors considerably in unearthing talent in the early 2000s. MS Dhoni was spotted in that fashion.

It was conveyed to the members that going forward, BCCI will look to live stream more domestic cricket – it was criticised for not showing some of the Duleep Trophy games – acting on the gains of the recent jersey sponsorship contract with Apollo Tyres worth ₹579 crore for two-and-a-half years.