Sourav Ganguly becomes BCCI president, repeats unique double in Indian cricket after 65 years

Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly began his new innings as he took charge of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as its 39th president on Wednesday. Ganguly was the only candidate to file his nomination for the top post after being unanimously chosen as the presidential candidate at a meeting earlier this month.

In the new team, Home Minister Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah took over as the secretary of the board while former president Anurag Thakur’s brother Arun Singh Dhumal became the new treasurer. Kerala’s veteran administrator Jayesh George was named the joint secretary while Mahim Verma of Uttarakhand became the new vice-president.

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Ganguly, who ushered in a new era in Indian cricket with his aggressive captaincy, thus became the second Indian captain to hold the top job in BCCI once elected. The only other Indian captain to become full-time BCCI president was Maharajkumar of Vizianagram or Vizzy, who had led the Indian team in 3 Test matches during the tour of England in 1936. He became the president of BCCI in 1954.

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Sunil Gavaskar was appointed interim president in 2014 but has never held the position as a full-time administrator.

Ganguly, one of India’s most decorated captains ever, had already laid down his plans during his 10th month tenure at helm. The former India captain will have to vacate office next July due to compulsory cooling off period in the new constitution, which forces an official to step down from administrative role after six years. Ganguly has been working as president of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) for the last 5 years.

“As a team we have a lot of things to look after actually. We have to get the house in order, administration in order and most importantly cricket on the field. The cricket has been brilliant on the field since we crashed out of the World Cup 2019 and hopefully that will continue. And this is our job to create an environment that the boys can go out and excel themselves,” Ganguly had said after filing his nomination.