Is Sourav Ganguly a dark horse to replace his countryman Shashank Manohar, the outgoing ICC chairman?
Ever since it emerged that Manohar would not stand for another term after his tenure ends with the ICC annual conference in July, the general perception was ECB chairman Colin Graves was the frontrunner to take charge as the new chairman of the global cricket body. However, with the Covid-19 pandemic stalling world cricket, the BCCI has taken the opportunity to test interests from several Full Members on whether they would support Ganguly.
On Thursday, the former Indian captain got a firm thumbs-up from Cricket South Africa, whose representatives said “strong leadership” was necessary at ICC and Ganguly was “best positioned” to be at helm.
In 2016, Manohar became the first independent chairman of the ICC. In 2018, Manohar, the only candidate to file nomination, was re-elected unanimously by the ICC Board.
It is understood that the ICC Board is yet to finalise the nomination process after which eligible candidates can pitch their hat in the ring.
The 15 directors who sit on the ICC Board then are allowed to nominate one candidate.
Ganguly became eligible when he attended his first ICC Board meeting, in late March, via video conference. On May 28, he is once again scheduled to attend the next Board meeting where members would discuss the next step in contingency planning on resumption of cricket. ♦
