Following his election, new BCCI president Shashank Manohar is all set to replace N Srinivasan as the ICC chairman. High-profile commentators such as Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and L Sivaramakrishnan are alos likely to lose their board contracts.
A consensus among board members, in favour of Shashank Manohar taking over as ICC chief, is expected to be reached at their annual general meeting in Mumbai on November 9. A decision on scrapping the commentary contracts, which made it mandatory for the official broadcaster to hire Gavaskar, Shastri and Sivaramakrishnan, is also likely to be taken at the meeting. Shastri is currently engaged in a different role as the Indian team’s director.
A top BCCI official said, “After Jagmohan Dalmiya’s death and the change at the top, equations within the BCCI have changed. The secretary Anurag Thakur and president Manohar now enjoy the numbers. Of late, the secretary and president haven’t been happy with the way Srinivasan has been representing BCCI at the ICC.”
There has been talk that there was a difference of opinion between the ICC chairman and the BCCI’s top officials about the venues of the World T20 Championship in India next year. Srinivasan became the first ICC chairman after the 2014 revamp of the world body, with a two-year term, but it’s the prerogative of the cricket board to decide its representative.
If Manohar’s name is accepted by all members, which seems a formality, the new board president will serve as the ICC chairman till June 2016. In case Srinivasan is withdrawn from the ICC, the Chennai administrator will cease to be a significant player in Indian cricket affairs for the first time in a decade. “This could end the Srinivasan era, for now. But in BCCI, things can always change,” said the official.
On the issue of commentators, the BCCI is mulling the idea of going back to its old policy of giving broadcasters the option of deciding the commentators and their contracts.
In other changes, the BCCI has scrapped its legal team and is expected to hire a firm to represent them in various court cases.
Besides, the IPL governing council, which is likely to meet on November 8, is expected to look into the tender process to invite two new teams for the next two years to replace Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, which have been suspended for alleged violation of norms.
