When we hear the name Sourav Ganguly, the first thing that comes to our mind is fighting spirit. Only a few cricketers possess good leadership qualities and Sourav Ganguly is one of them.
A much-experienced player, as well as Ex-Captain of the Indian team, Dada has officially taken charge as the president of BCCI on Wednesday. Many players have tweeted about it and expressed their happiness.
Ganguly was unanimously chosen as the presidential candidate at a meeting earlier this month. The election of Ganguly’s team marks an end to the reign of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (COA) – led by Vinod Rai – who oversaw the functioning of BCCI for almost three years.
Diana Edulji, speaking to reporters at the BCCI headquarters after the final COA meeting on Tuesday, said, “It was a good experience and a long journey, didn’t think that the journey would last so long, but I am happy with the end result that elections and office-bearers are coming back and BCCI will be run by them now.”
Ganguly has already laid down his plans for his 10-month tenure. The former India captain will have to vacate office next July due to the compulsory cooling-off period in the new constitution, which forces an official to step down from the administrative role after six years. Ganguly has been working as president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) for the last five years.
The areas of concern that Ganguly has been vocal about in the past are remuneration for first-class cricketers and revenue from the International Cricket Council.
Ganguly had said, “We haven’t received any money from ICC in the last few years. Money in the sense of what we deserve. India generates 70-80 percent of its revenue. So that’s going to be one of the agendas. Talks and discussions need to happen and we have to find a solution to this as this is not leading anywhere.”
After completing his career as one of the most successful captains in world cricket, under the tutelage of former BCCI President Jagmohan Dalmiya, Ganguly dabbled into administration at the CAB. He also headed key BCCI sub-committees, including the technical panel and the Cricket Advisory Committee more recently.