Roger Binny set to replace Sourav Ganguly as BCCI president

Arun Dhumal, currently the BCCI treasurer, will take over as the IPL chairman from the outgoing Brijesh Patel

Roger Binny, the former India allrounder, is set to become the new BCCI president, replacing Sourav Ganguly, who is not expected to have a position on the board any longer. Binny will assume charge on October 18, when the BCCI annual general meeting will be held, in Mumbai.

Jay Shah, son of India’s home minister Amit Shah, will continue as BCCI secretary, the most influential position in the board. Rajiv Shukla will also stay on as the board’s vice president.

Along with Binny, there will be two first-timers in the new administration: Ashish Shelar, who served as Mumbai Cricket Association president between 2017 and 2019, will be the treasurer, and Devajit Saikia, currently secretary at Assam Cricket Association, will be the joint secretary.

Another key appointment is that of Arun Dhumal, who is set to take over as the new IPL chairman, a post held since 2019 by Brijesh Patel, the former India batter, who will be forced to vacate the seat as he turns 70 soon [on November 24]. That is the maximum permitted age limit for an office bearer or administrator in the BCCI’s constitution.

Dhumal, who became a BCCI functionary during the Ganguly administration, is the brother of former board president Anurag Thakur, the current sports and youth affairs minister in India’s central government.

As a formality, Dhumal will initially need to contest for a position for being an IPL governing council member. Also joining the governing council will be Avishek Dalmiya, son of former BCCI and ICC bigwig Jagmohan Dalimya. Avishek, who is the Cricket Association of Bengal president, will replace Khairul Majumdar, who will be nominated as the BCCI’s general body representative on the board’s Apex Council.

Binny, 67, has a lot of experience in cricket administration. He has served in different positions at the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) over the years and has been its president since 2019. Prior to that, Binny also was part of the KSCA administrations led by Patel and Anil Kumble (2010-12).

Binny was the sole candidate for the BCCI president’s post so far with the deadline for filing nominations ending on Wednesday for the five office-bearers’ positions, which were meant to be contested at the board elections on October 18. As things stand, there will be no elections for any position after the top brass of the BCCI, including Ganguly, along with senior past and current administrators from prominent state associations finalized a shortlist of people that will occupy key positions in the BCCI over a series of meetings in Delhi last week and one on Monday evening in Mumbai.

Among those present at these meetings included former BCCI president and ICC chairman N Srinivasan, former BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, former BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry, and Delhi & Districts Association president Rohan Jaitley

The age-cap rule, which has led to the end of Patel’s run, will also restrict 1983 World Cup winner Binny’s tenure to one term of three years.

This is despite the Supreme Court recently diluting several RM Lodha Committee recommendations. Including the big one, that any office-bearer who had held any post for two consecutive terms in the BCCI shall not be eligible to contest any further election in the BCCI without completing a cooling-off period of three years. Also, if a person has served two consecutive terms each in a state association and in the BCCI, or vice versa, without any break [12 years in total], such a person shall not be eligible to contest any further election in a state association or in the BCCI, without completing a cooling-off period of three years.

That was a modification of its 2018 judgment, where it had ruled that an office-bearer would need to serve a three-year cooling-off period once they had served six years at a state association and/or the BCCI.

If that rule had not been amended, the entire set of office-bearers in the Ganguly administration would have become ineligible to carry on in any capacity in the BCCI.

However, the likes of Shah can now continue till 2025. He had taken over as BCCI secretary in 2019 when Ganguly was elected president after board elections were held for the first time since the Supreme Court mandated a new constitution, drafted as per the Lodha Committee recommendations, which were meant to overhaul the structure and running of BCCI.