Sourav Ganguly Officially Appointed BCCI President In Annual General Meeting

Sourav Ganguly was officially appointed as the 39th president of the BCCI during the Annual General Meeting in Mumbai. Finally, a cricketer will head the richest cricketing board in the world. Ganguly's appointment and the presence of new faces in Jay Shah, Arun Kumar Dhumal, Brijesh Patel, Mohammad Azharuddin officially brings to an end the 33-month tenure of the Committee of Administrators, which was appointed by the Supreme Court to oversee the functionings of the Board.

Vinod Rai, Diana Eduljee and Lt Gen (Retd) Ravi Thodge will be handing over the reigns to Ganguly. The CoA was set-up following the guidelines of the Justice RM Lodha Panel set up by the Supreme Court in the wake of the IPL spot-fixing scandal in 2013. In addition to banning Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for two years, the Lodha Panel set guidelines of age and tenure cap, one state one vote and other key recommendations that sought to bring accountability in the Indian cricket board.

However, Ganguly comes at a time when there is plenty of work needed to be done regarding First Class cricket, India's stature in world cricket, Pink Ball cricket and arresting the sparse attendaces which were visible during the series between India and South Africa. Ganguly will also face the challenge of having quality cricketers on board as far as the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) and national selection committee are concerned. The issue of Conflict of Interest, that plagued many former players including Rahul Dravid, will also be a key agenda during his tenure.

Ganguly has said that he is keen on India playing Day-Night Tests and that has been viewed as one of the solutions to arrest the low attendances in the recent Tests against South Africa. However, Virat Kohli's statement on keeping Tests in five strong venues might be considered a very important agenda for Ganguly.

Also Read | In India, We Should Have Five Strong Test Centres: Virat Kohli After Whitewash Of South Africa

"In my opinion, we should have 5 strong Test centres. In Test cricket, teams coming into India should know that they are going to play at these 5 centres, these are the pitches and crowds to expect. It can't be sporadic and spread over so many places. I  agree that you have state associations, rotation and giving games and all that. That is fine in T20 and ODI cricket, but for Test cricket teams coming into India should know we are going to play at these five centres," Kohli had said after the win in Ranchi.

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