FORMER BCCI president Shashank Manohar could become the ‘chairman’ of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2014, after the world body unanimously approved recommendations for large scale structural changes. Manohar had earlier declined the ICC presidency – as reported in Mail Today on September 20 – under different circumstances, but he could now give his consent to occupy the newly-created post of ICC chairman, said sources close to the Nagpur-based lawyer.
Manohar 54, now holds no position either with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) or the ICC, but it wouldn’t be a deterrent for him.
ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat said as much on Wednesday. “There’s every chance it could be the case (that the chairman could come from within the current board), but there’s every chance it could come from outside,” he told reporters in Dubai after a meeting of the ICC executive board.
He said a nominations committee will determine a process to elect “the best man for the job”. When contacted on Wednesday, Manohar did not rule out accepting the responsibility, but didn’t commit either, saying he was not aware of the latest developments.
Current BCCI president N Srinivasan had given enough hints as early as September. “None of you knows that he was once offered the ICC presidency, but knowing the man he is, he declined the offer … But he’s still quite young and I think he should accept it sometime in the future,” Srinivasan had said while taking over the BCCI presidency from Manohar at the BCCI AGM on September 19.
“People in the ICC felt that he should become the president – that’s the esteem in which they held him,” Srinivasan had told Mail Today. The recommendation of a split leadership atop the ICC – the president will now be appointed in an “ambassadorial role” on a one-year rotational basis while a “chairman would lead the Board”. The power of ICC president will now be reduced.