Has Ganguly failed the cricket & his fraternity?

As Sourav Ganguly’s exit from the top position is now been confirmed, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is prepared to welcome another cricketer and 1983 World Cup highest wicket-taker, Roger Binny, as new leader.

In October 2019, Ganguly was elected unanimously to lead the richest cricket body in the world, and he pledged to implement a number of significant changes.

People had great expectations for the ‘Prince of Kolkata’ because of what he had previously accomplished for Indian cricket. Everyone was happy to see him in the top administrative position, in fact as first cricketer president, because they knew he would set an excellent example and revamp the BCCI administration.

However, various incidents throughout his three-year tenure caused him to fall out with the game’s most significant stakeholders, the Indian cricket fans.

The former India skipper received harsh criticism for the way he handled then skipper Virat Kohli’s resignation as captain of Team India. Before leaving for the South Africa trip last year, Kohli even openly called Ganguly “a liar”.
The BCCI insiders also mention the several more allegations against Ganguly that contributed to his so-called “unceremonious exit”.

There were even rumours that Ganguly had abused his authority as BCCI’s president by attending Team India selection committee meetings to pick the national team. Clearly, this was against the BCCI’s constitution and the notion of a “free and fair” selection procedure. According to information obtained during one of these meetings, “a selector stated to the secretary office that even though Ganguly didn’t meddle in team selection, it was ‘intimidating’.”

After Kohli, it was the turn of Bengal’s wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha to add more humiliation for Ganguly by claiming “he was assured of a place in the Indian Test team as long as Ganguly was around as BCCI president”. Saha’s claims were enough to put the former skipper in a spot.

The question was whether Ganguly crossed his brief by directly interfering in selection matters?
A president is not permitted to participate in selection committee meetings, according to the BCCI constitution. Instead, the secretary (now Jay Shah) is in charge of convening these meetings.

Non-performing tenure

When Ganguly took over, there were a lot of expectations from all quarters. If cricketers were expecting a better understanding of workload and working relationship with the BCCI, the demand for strengthening domestic cricket was demanded by all the former cricketers and cricket lovers.

However, nothing of that sort happened during his three-year tenure. In fact, domestic cricket is completely in the doldrums now. In fact, it was domestic cricket that suffered the most during the COVID pandemic, whereas cash-rich tournaments like the IPL went on as scheduled in the United Arab Emirates.

In the matter related to increasing former players’ pensions, there was not much that Ganguly contributed on that front either. Most of the efforts were made by secretary Shah as the pension was increased nearly double-fold.

Ganguly, on the other hand, was rather busy increasing his personal wealth by taking more and more endorsements using his BCCI platform. His proximity to “one businessman-cum- journalist” didn’t go down kindly because that so-called journalist used his position by sending threatening messages to wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha.

The entire BCCI stood up to this journos arrogance and were eager to permanently ban such characters from cricket. But again, it was Ganguly that ensured that his “dear friend” got only a two-year ban.

BCCI president or a marketing manager?

As the meeting to deliberate next office-bearers of BCCI got underway in New Delhi on October 6, former BCCI president Srinivasan took the lead in attacking Ganguly for defaming the riches cricket body in the world.
Srinivasan was clear in choosing his words to attack Ganguly. “Never in the history of Indian cricket that a president was only perceived as backing his own brand rather than endorsing the game of cricket,” were apparently the words he used to ensure Ganguly’s exit.

The Tamil Nadu cement king and owner of the IPL team, Chennai Super Kings, didn’t stop there and declared that “there is no way that he or his entire group would ever support Ganguly for the top post again”.

It should be noted that since Ganguly was elected president in October 2019, the biggest criticism levelled at him has been that “he sacrificed BCCI interest in order to boost his personal brand”. It’s no secret that Ganguly was the first BCCI president to be seen endorsing different products, which constituted “the conflict of interest” for any subsequent president.
However, he crossed all the limits when he endorsed the online gaming app “My11Circle”. This is true even though the Indian Cricket Board signed with another gaming website, Dream XI, to serve as Team India’s primary sponsor.

The choice by Ganguly to support a contentious company allowed virtually all present and former Indian players, including captain Virat Kohli, to enter the industry of endorsing questionable organisations that engage in financial activities. In response to a complaint made by a cricket fan, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court even served notices to Ganguly and Kohli.

It goes without saying that practically all of the current cricketers, including the current captain Rohit Sharma, have been in at least one advertising for a gaming company. This has undoubtedly damaged cricket’s reputation.

The meeting was held at the residence of Union Home minister Amit Shah and was attended by all the who’s who of Indian cricket, including Union Sports minister Anurag Thakur, his brother and current BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal, former BCCI president N. Srinivasan, Congress party member but largely seen as political middleman Rajeev Shukla, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, former India skipper and current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, IPL chairman Brijesh Patel, former BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah and another host and current BCCI secretary Jay Shah.
Later a second meeting was held in Mumbai on Oct. 10 where Ganguly was given an option to become the next Indian Premier League chairman, which he declined.

Cricketer replacing cricketer

Those who are interested in cricket history must be reminded that Ganguly checkmated Karnataka’s strongman and former India player Brijesh Patel during the 2019 elections.

It was Patel’s name that was finalised till the very last hour before the nominations were filed. But Ganguly apparently played a smart and cunning game with India’s ruling party BJP by promising to join the outfit before the all-important upcoming Bengal elections.

Patel kept on sulking despite getting the chairmanship of the lucrative IPL. But this time around, Patel has been successful as he has ensured that his close friend and 1983 World Cup winning team hero Roger Binny is set to be elected as next president unopposed.

True to his cricketing days, Ganguly did not propose the name of Roger Binny, the incoming president, as is the normal practice. He was, in fact, the last one to leave the BCCI office after the nomination process ended.

The New BCCI Office-Bearer

President: Roger Binny (Karnataka)
Secretary: Jai Shah (Gujarat, son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah)
Vice President: Rajeev Shukla (UP)
Treasurer: Ashish Shelar (Maharashtra, BJP MLA)
Joint Secretary: Devjit Saikia (Assam, close aide of CM)
IPL President: Arun Dhumal (Himachal, younger brother of Anurag Thakur)

– INDIA NEWS STREAM

The author is a senior sports journalist. He can be reached at shekhar.luthra@gmail.com and @shekharluthra