The BCCI President, Sourav Ganguly on October 23 kicked off his Ten-month tenure as the Boss of BCCI. During his tenure, there lies menacing challenges both cricketing as well as administrative but the much we know Dada, the areas of concern will soon be resolved as he already had expressed his dislikeness and cons of the issues openly in the public, the backing for the new Boss is certainly there and this makes Dada only stronger. Also considering the current political scenario, the BCCI President is set to get whatever he wishes for.
Sourav Ganguly, officially as the BCCI President, on Wednesday, attended his first press conference in the BCCI headquarters. Dada decided to wear his India blazer for his new innings as president of the BCCI and surprised everyone, when asked about his attire, Dada quoted that it was an honour getting the blazer then and it is doubled now, “I got it when I was captain of India, so I decided I would wear it but I did not realise it is so loose. But I got this when I was captain so I decided to wear it today.” Well, it’s not that easy to predict the next move of “the Ustaad of Dadagiri”, Sourav Ganguly.
On asking about how the relationship with Virat Kohli, the Indian Captain will pan out, Dada replied calling Virat Kohli the most important person of the Indian Cricket, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, clearly indicates his stand, which is to walk hand-in-hand with the Captain ‘King-Kohli’ of the Invincible team. Dada also affirmed that the new committee will only make the life easier for the players of India.
Sourav Ganguly, Dada firmly spoke about the unsettled dues of the BCCI with over USD 372 million is to be received from the ICC, which was mainly for the back-end of the cycle. It is a no secret that India has lost its call in the ICC, all due to the recent disputes. The matter has now gone from bad to worse as in the latest working group of the global body there are no BCCI representatives. The ‘Big Three Model’ (England, Australia and India) which was formulated by the former BCCI president N Srinivasan’s right-hand man Sundar Raman, made India eligible to achieve US$ 570 million from ICC’s revenue-sharing model.
However, once Shashank Manohar took over as the ICC Chief, India has lost the vote for the ‘Big Three’ model and had to settle for only USD 293 million (for the 2016-2023 cycle), which still remains USD 150 million more than England and Wales Cricket Board’s $143 million.
However, if former President N Srinivasan, goes to the ICC as BCCI representative which seems to be the Game (as of now), Manohar the ICC Chief, who is all set to get a third and final term, might turn rogue and either way BCCI won’t get what it wanted.
Sourav Ganguly has been quite vocal about this age-old issue in Indian cricket. As compared to international cricket, a first-class cricketer earns as low as Rs 15 lakh per Test match if he is in the playing XI and a half if a member of the squad. One earns approx. Rs 8 lakh per ODI and Rs 4 lakh per T20 International. Whereas only more than 20 players are included in various central contract categories, where the can earn from Rs 1 crore to Rs 7 crore. This is one issue that is close to Sourav Ganguly’s heart and he vowed to try to at least double the match fee and take it up to Rs 2.5 lakh per the first-class match, besides increasing the share of domestic players in the gross revenue earned from TV rights.
Dada also addressed that the new committee will decide on a few redundant ODI tournaments like Deodhar Trophy, the spacing of matches in Ranji Trophy, and the standard of umpiring and betterment of pitches in first-class venues.
The issue of conflict of interest in another major area of concern, which the new BCCI President is ready to take on his hands. Sourav Ganguly said that the last CoA Status Report has demanded some relaxation on the rule where those without a long-term contract (less than two years) should be allowed to don multiple hats. If the Supreme Court agrees, it will be easier for Dada to get quality ex-players on board. Sourav Ganguly himself felt the taste of the medicine and saw his teammates Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman bear the bitterness because of the rules where one person can only take up one job at a time. This has restricted Sourav Ganguly to try out options to get good quality ex-cricketers for the national selection panel or various other posts.
Sourav Ganguly as always is desperately in favour of Test Cricket and he said he is committed on going to the extent to revive the best form of the Game in the Country. Dada commented that the recent advice from the Captain of India, Virat Kohli will also be taken into consideration, as they are supposed to sit together and discuss many things regarding Indian Cricket. The fate of Day-Night Test matches which could bring the crowds back might also be discussed, as it seems that Dada is a fan of Pink ball Test matches.
Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI President concluded his first PC with, ‘I have a role to do and I will do that to the best of my ability and do it to make sure it’s the best for BCCI and Indian cricket.’
Mohandas Menon @mohanstatsman tweets
FYI, Sourav Ganguly is the 32nd person to be formally elected as the President of the BCCI.
Watch the video by BCCI on Twitter as Sourav Ganguly as BCCI President attends his first Press Conference.
For full video here.
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Also read: SOURAV GANGULY ‘DADA’ THE WOULD-BE PRESIDENT OF BCCI
