- Sunday, March 09, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
It was a disappointing end for Sourav Ganguly, one of India’s most successful cricket captains, as the president of the country’s cricket board — the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) — and it was a day for the fans of Virat Kohli, another former captain of the Indian national side, to celebrate.
It was around a year ago when Indian cricket found itself embroiled in a controversy featuring Ganguly and Kohli over the latter’s decision to quit captaincy. The latter, who had quit the T20 captaincy, reportedly was pushed by Ganguly-led BCCI to quit the one-day international captaincy as well. Kohli also stepped down from Test captaincy a few months later in South Africa.
Ganguly and Kohli had given contradictory statements on how the episode unfolded between them and fans of the current cricketer were angry with the outgoing board president saying he was responsible for Kohli’s unceremonious exit.
Almost a year since that ugly episode, Ganguly is set to lose his ‘captaincy’ at the BCCI and Kohli’s fans were celebrating, saying it was a poetic justice.
The 50-year-old’s exit is reportedly as unceremonious since he reportedly did not get the board’s backing for extending his tenure which started in 2019 and there were also claims that the BCCI was not happy with this performance.
A dejected Ganguly was set to be replaced by Roger Binny, a former India all-rounder who was part of India’s World Cup-winning team of 1983. Most of the members of Ganguly’s team, including secretary Jay Shah, son of Indian home minister and a powerful leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Amit Shah, were set to continue for the new term.
Ganguly is expected to hand over the reins to Binny, 67, at the BCCI annual general meeting on October 18. Also, it has been reported that Shah is set to replace Ganguly as Indian cricket’s representative at ICC board meetings.
Reports said Ganguly was offered the role to become the chairman of the Indian Premier League but he declined it saying he could not do it after leading the board.
“Sourav was offered IPL chairmanship but he politely declined the offer. His logic was that he cannot accept becoming head of a sub-committee in BCCI after heading the same institution. He had expressed interest in continuing in the position,” Press Trust of India quoted a BCCI source as saying.
For Kohli’s fans, however, it was a moment to celebrate to the hilt. They flooded social media with reactions to the development
Here are some posts:
According to Reports
• No backing to Sourav Ganguly from BCCI to continue his 2nd term as the BCCI President.
• Jay Shah to continue as the secretary of BCCI.
• Sourav Ganguly denied the offer to become the IPL chairman.
• Roger Binny likely to be the next main man for BCCI. pic.twitter.com/XtWOxCfMHJ— ??????. (@ProudGautam) October 12, 2022
When Karma strikes back ????? https://t.co/uBFlrSY401 pic.twitter.com/LHdC8uXD1S
— Preeti ?? (@MindFlayer_03) October 11, 2022
Gandguly sacked
Wharra day to be kohli fan https://t.co/lYavnxx1Io— Yin & Yang (@SarcasticRookie) October 11, 2022
This man went on saying "Board will look into it" on Virat Kohli's statement in press and now himself getting it all back. What goes around comes around. https://t.co/Rrz3MXcO4H
— fery (@ffspari) October 11, 2022
EGo EGo ?? Aacha hua sack hogaya https://t.co/kCU0FE4Zu4
— हर्षित (@Italymeraghar) October 11, 2022
Ganguly on Thursday opened up about his role as the administrator and said that he was now looking to move on to something else. The former India batter, who was roped in as the brand ambassador by Bandhan Bank in Kolkata, his home town, at an event on the same day, said, “I have been an administrator and I will move on to something else.”
“Whatever you do in life the best days are when you played for India. I have been president of BCCI and I will go on to do bigger things. You can’t be a player forever, you can’t be an administrator forever. It’s been great doing both”
“I never believed in history but the feeling in the past was east lacked talent to play at that level. You don’t become an Ambani or Narendra Modi in one day. You have to work for months and years to get there,” he added.
