Mithun Manhas was never considered a potential candidate to be the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Yet, the men in prime position at the power centre of the BCCI decided on him, ignoring the claims of Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh and Raghuram Bhat. An outspoken and flamboyant Sourav didn’t fit the bill, Harbhajan was considered too inexperienced for the hot seat and Bhat’s claims were rejected since having a second consecutive president from Karnataka, after Roger Binny, didn’t make sense. So Bhat was handed the treasurer’s keys as consolation.
Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir’s invisible hand did play a key role in Manhas’s elevation, but the newly-elected president feels his “work and credentials” were largely responsible.
“Maybe my work, my credentials (worked in my favour). Credentials both as an administrator, as well as a cricketer. Over the last four years, I’ve been working with the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), we have reached seven knockouts (across age groups), which never happened before, and that experience will certainly help,” Manhas said at the Cricket Centre on Sunday afternoon.
“It’s an absolute honour to be the president of the world’s finest cricketing board. And it’s at the same time, a huge responsibility as well. I give my assurance that I’ll be committed to do it to the best of my abilities and with dedication and passion.”
From being a mere BCCI sub-committee member in managing the day-to-day affairs of the dysfunctional Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association in 2021, his journey has been startling. His technical acumen is beyond doubt as was best exemplified in the manner a band of largely unknown cricketers from J&K stunned 43-time Ranji champions Mumbai last season at the Wankhede.
As reported by The Telegraph on Sunday, Sourav, the former BCCI chief was a notable absentee at its 94th AGM, but his former teammate Harbhajan attended the meeting as a Punjab Cricket Association representative.
This is the second time in succession that there was no representative from the CAB at the Board’s AGM. Last year, the association missed the deadline to file the nomination, which left CAB out of the electoral roll.
Harbhajan backed Manhas to perform in his new role.
“When a cricketer heads a cricket body, his experience and other qualities help. It’s a good decision and it’s been happening for the last three terms, which is a great thing for the cricketers as well for him to give something back to the game,” Harbhajan said.
“The BCCI has started this and there cannot be anything greater for any cricketer that he can also give something back. I’ve played a lot of cricket with Mithun since U-19 days and I am very happy for him.”
TRD revival
One of the recommendations at the AGM was to revive the Talent Resource Development wing, a scouting programme which had once discovered stars like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, RP Singh, and Piyush Chawla.
It was one of the pet projects of former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya with former captain Dilip Vengsakar heading the scheme for several years.
The recommendation will now be taken up by the apex council. A cricket advisory panel, comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav and VVS Laxman, had also recommended the revival of the TRD wing in 2015.
