Mithun Manhas’s selection as the next president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may have taken everyone by surprise, but the powers-that-be had decided on him much before the meeting on Saturday.
When an influential member revealed his name at the residence of a powerful minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet well past midnight, there was no chance of a discussion. It was simply an announcement which everyone had to agree upon, sources told The Telegraph.
The gathering included several well-known faces in the BCCI — veteran Niranjan Shah, Kasi Viswanathan representing N. Srinivasan, Brijesh Patel, the chief minister of a North Eastern state, selector-in-waiting RP Singh, current office-bearers and ICC chairman Jay Shah.
Till Manhas’s name came up, it was assumed that former India left-arm spinner Raghuram Bhat was the unanimous choice since the dialogue had veered towards his nomination for the top post. Bhat was ultimately made the treasurer as consolation. Rohan Desai, the current joint secretary, was dropped with current treasurer Prabhtej Singh Bhatia replacing him.
Desai’s panel recently lost the elections in the Goa Cricket Association.
Why did Manhas, 46, get special preference? A former middle-order batter with Delhi, who played 157 first-class games from 1997-98 to 2016-17, Manhas is considered close to Delhi and District Cricket Association president Rohan Jaitley.
A member of the cricket operations & development committee in Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association, he has also been associated with IPL franchises Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Gujarat Titans in coaching roles.
The J&K factor did play a huge role in bringing him into the limelight since the state hasn’t had much participation in the Board.
Manhas’s elevation meant former captain Sourav Ganguly and star spinner Harbhajan Singh had to miss out. One reason behind not considering both is understood to be their commercial interests. The list of ones who missed out includes Avishek Dalmiya, an IPL governing council member in the outgoing panel.