Sourav Ganguly Likely To Be Back As CAB President Sans Contest

 

 

Kolkata : Putting speculation to rest, former India skipper and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly is set to be back at the helm of affairs at the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). After having been nominated as the CAB representative in the BCCI Annual General Meeting (AGM) slated for September 28 in Mumbai, he is likely to be elected the president of the CAB, which is scheduled to have its AGM on September 22, unopposed.

 

The AGM is likely to be a sedate one with no contests for any posts. The final date for filing the nomination is Sunday, September 14. In that case, he would succeed his elder brother Snehasish Ganguly. It may be recalled that Ganguly had donned the presidents' hats both in BCCI and CAB earlier in his cricket administration career. He has served as the BCCI president from 2019 to 2022 before making way for another World Cup-winning star Roger Binny of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA). Prior to that former India captain had served the CAB as its president from 2015 to 2019 post Jagmohan Dalmiya's demise.

 

However, it's still not clear whether Ganguly would take his chance at the BCCI presidency too once again as there is a clear space of a week between the annual general meetings of the CAB and the BCCI. Ganguly will be joined by another former India teammate Harbhajan Singh, who would represent Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) in the Indian cricket board's AGM. Meanwhile, the talismanic Ganguly seems to have taken a fresh guard in cricket administration by opting to take a plunge at the CAB once more. It remains to be seen whether the former Bengal southpaw throws his hat at the BCCI top post later on.

 

"Now that all the state body and BCCI elections are being held according to Justice RM Lodha Recommendations, those who qualify will only be the office-bearers. Later on, when the National Sports Governance Bill 2025 will be implemented, there may be elections in both the national and state cricket bodies. It may take roughly a year to elect/select office-bearers as per the sports bill," a source in the know of the developments told ETV Bharat.

 

Whether Ganguly would throw his hat in BCCI is s topic for discussion on another day. As far as CAB is concerned, he is likely to at the helm without a contest this time. His earlier bete-noire and former CAB secertary and treasuer Biswarup Dey has also joined the Ganguly camp ahead of the election making it a cakewalk for the former BCCI president. As of now, it's almost certain that Ganguly won't have a challenger for the CAB president's post on September 22, but whether his panel would get elected uncontested will be known by Sunday evening.

 

"It's very unlikely that Sourav (Ganguly) will have a challenger for the president's post thanks to his stature as well as his proximity with the state (West Bengal) administration. But the headache will be to choose the other office-bearers as there are lot of efficient candidates vying for the slots," a source in the CAB said. As far as CAB is concerned, Ganguly's panel for running the cricket body for another year may include former secretary of the association Bablu Koley, former state cricketer and Ganguly's close aid Sanjay Das, Madan Ghosh, Anu Dutta and a few others. Former All India Football Federation's (AIFF) senior vice-president Subrata Dutta is also learnt to have been in the reckoning for an office-bearer's post under the leadership of Ganguly.