The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday appointed its president Shashank Manohar as the new chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) removing incumbent N. Srinivasan for the rest of the term.
Srinivasan, who was elected for a two-year term, was scheduled to head the ICC till June 2016. The decision to replace him with Manohar was taken at the board’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) here on Monday. Srinivasan’s position as the president of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) is also under the scanner.
“BCCI’s representative to ICC will be Manohar. He will take over as the ICC chairman. All members of the BCCI are unanimous to the decision taken and will work transparently in the upcoming days. Everybody in the meeting spoke about clean and clear work in the board,” secretary Anurag Thakur said.
Manohar said that to look into the complaints regarding conflict of interest, former Chief Justice of India A.P. Shah has been appointed.
India cricket team director Ravi Shastri has been removed from the Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council. However, he will continue to be team India director until the World Twenty20 in March 2016 in India.
The earlier Governing Council had 13 members but BCCI has trimmed it down. The new members in the Governing Council include Ajay Shirke, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sourav Ganguly and Rajeev Shukla (who remains chairman).
“IPL governing council is headed by Rajeev Shukla and other members are Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ajay Shirke, M.P. Pandove and Sourav Ganguly. With regard to conflict of interest, an imbursement has been appointment by the board and former Chief Justice of India A.P. Shah will look into the complaints if any,” Manohar said.
The BCCI AGM also decided to remove Anil Kumble from the technical committee of the board and have appointed Ganguly as the chairman. Kumble is now a TV commentator while Ganguly, president of Cricket Association of Bengal.
“So, whatever I had said after my appointment a month before, that we would clean up the systems and would try to run the board in transparent manner, we have done what we could and other things will be put in place in a short while from now.”
Srinivasan, whose company India Cements owned Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK), ran into trouble due to a series of controversies over bribery and spot fixing in the IPL as he was charged with conflict of interest by the Supreme Court.
The former BCCI president’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan — the team principal of CSK — was indicted for being involved in betting and spot fixing. He was banned for life from all cricket related activities.
The Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha Committee also suspended CSK and Rajasthan Royals from the IPL for two years.
The BCCI president mentioned there will be 12 Tests conducted at home in 2016, adding that Pune, Vizag, Ranchi, Rajkot, Indore and Dharmasala were the six venues which were given Test status.
“There will be 12 Tests played at home in the next year and Pune, Vizag, Ranchi, Indore, Rajkot and Dharmasala are the six venues which have been given Test status. As these stadiums have all the facilities to conduct a Test match, so we have given the Test status to them,” Manohar said.
Speaking on the decision to remove Roger Binny from men’s senior selection committee, Manohar said, “The perception should change. There should not be injustice on Stuart Binny also. If he is a deserving player, you should not get a flag from the media that as because he is Roger’s son he is playing. So we can’t destroy his career,” Manohar said.
BCCI chief Manohar did not rule out the chances of a series between India and Pakistan in December but made it clear that government of both countries have to step in for revival of cricket.
“To revive series between India and Pakistan both the government should step in and have to take a decision. We have to talk to the government and the decision taken by the government will be the decision of BCCI,” he said.
BCCI secretary Thakur also mentioned that if Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) fails to submit all cleared permission by November 17 to the board, the fourth and final Test match of the ongoing series between India and South Africa scheduled to be held in Delhi from December 3-7 will be shifted to Pune.
The Delhi Test, to be staged at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground, is in jeopardy following problems between DDCA and the Delhi state government.
“It has been decided in the meeting that, if DDCA fails to solve problems with the state government within November 17 and submit clear reports then the fourth Test match will be shifted to Pune,” Thakur said.
BCCI chief Manohar to replace Srinivasan as ICC chairman added by Indian newspaper Sydney on
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