Mumbai: The former India allrounder Roger Binny on Tuesday filed his nomination for the post of BCCI president and is likely to get elected unopposed.
Binny, a member of the 1983 World Cup-winning team, is the sole candidate for the BCCI president’s post so far with the deadline for filing nominations ending on Wednesday. If no more candidate emerges, he will replace Sourav Ganguly as BCCI chief on October 18, when the Board’s annual general meeting will be held in Mumbai.
After a series of meetings of the top brass of the BCCI, along with senior past and current administrators from prominent state associations, in Delhi last week and one on Monday evening in Mumbai, it was clear that Ganguly will not continue as president. Whether the former India captain will be nominated to the International Cricket Council (ICC) is to be seen.
Meanwhile, Jay Shah, son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, has also filed nomination and will continue as BCCI Secretary for a second consecutive term if no more candidates file nominations for the post. Rajiv Shukla is also likely to stay on as the board’s vice president.
“Roger Binny has filed nomination for president’s post, myself for the vice-president’s post, Jay Shah for secretary, Ashish Shelar for treasurer and Devajit Saikia has filed nomination for joint secretary’s post,” Shukla told reporters here.
“Arun Dhumal will head the IPL governing council and Abhishek Dalmiya will be part of that council. Khairul Jamal (Mamun) Majumdar will be part of the Apex council. As of now these are the nominations and all are unopposed,” he added.
The 67-year-old Binny 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, he also was part of the KSCA administrations led by Patel and Anil Kumble (2010-12).
The age-cap rule will restrict 1983 World Cup winner Binny’s tenure to one term of three years.
Along with Binny, there will be two first-timers in the new administration — Ashish Shelar and Devajit Saikia. The Maharashtra BJP leader Ashish Shelar who served as Mumbai Cricket Association president between 2017 and 2019, will be the treasurer, which means that he won’t become Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) president.
“Once he (Shelar) takes over as a treasurer, he will have to withdraw his nomination from the MCA president’s post,” Shukla informed.
On the other hand, Saikia, currently secretary at Assam Cricket Association, will be the new joint secretary, replacing Jayesh George.
Another key appointment is that of Sports minister Anurag Thakur’s younger brother Arun Singh 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. Notably, 70 years is the maximum permitted age limit for an office bearer or administrator in the BCCI’s constitution.
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.
The Congress leader Shukla also mentioned that the decision on whether BCCI will contest for the ICC chairmanship will be taken during the AGM.
–IANS