After meeting the top officials of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and was told that the Indian board would oppose his proposed reforms in the running of cricket, the independent chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Shashank Manohar has resigned his post. However, he has cited personal reasons for quitting the job.
Manohar had met Vinod Rai and Vikram Limaye, two members of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), in the presence of BCCI CEO Rahul Johri in Mumbai. After the meeting, he flew back to Nagpur and tendered his resignation. The resignation brought an end to his eight-month tenure in the game's governing body, which focused on bringing about a flurry of policy changes. Manohar met Rai, the head of the CoA, last month to ensure smooth implementation of his proposed reforms.
In the meeting, according to sources, Manohar was told that BCCI wouldn't allow the finance and governance models to be changed in the prevailing circumstances. The resignation brought an end to his eight-month tenure in the game's governing body, which focused on bringing about a flurry of policy changes. According to sources, the board conveyed to Manohar that the proposed reforms would continue to be opposed by India by way of retaining the required number of votes to block its passage. The CoA certainly did not want a confrontation with the member boards of ICC nor with the chairman. Yet, it was convinced that it needed to protect the rights of BCCI at the ICC.
Manohar maintained that he was quitting for personal reasons and sources close to him said he had decided to quit before the meeting with BCCI officials. Interestingly, BCCI went into a huddle with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) in Colombo in a separate meeting called to mark Sri Lanka's 70 years of independence next year. The Zimbabwe Cricket Board was also invited and all the member boards resolved to side with BCCI in opposing ICC's proposed reforms.
The proposed reforms at ICC, being pushed by Manohar, revolve around bringing down the existing Big Three financial model that guarantees BCCI, Cricket Australia and the England Cricket Board additional income based on the revenue they bring to the table. Having given his commitment to ICC's member boards that he would bring about a “fair and balanced“ administration in the game's parent body, Manohar decided to quit once it became clear that he would not be given the space to do so.
