BCCI tried to oust ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar at ICC meeting

Reports have emerged that the BCCI had put in efforts to remove ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar from his post at the recently concluded ICC executive board meeting in Cape Town. It is the latest episode that has emerged in the ongoing saga between the BCCI and the ICC Chairman.

The news appears only a couple of days after it was announced that Anurag Thakur had become the head of the development committee of the ICC. Anurag Thakur, being BCCI’s current President as well has only strengthened his position in the world of cricket but is continuing to fight a battle at home with the Lodha Committee.

BCCI’s efforts to remove Shashank Manohar was due to the ICC’s staunch refusal to write a letter in support of BCCI against implementing some of the Lodha Committee’s reforms. The BCCI had requested the ICC to write such a letter as the board would be affected if all the reforms were implemented, thus harming one of the biggest members of the governing board of the game.

The ICC, however, responded saying that the Lodha Committee’s activities in India does not constitute to government interference and thus their hands are tied regarding the matter.

The BCCI also tried to push Giles Clarke, head of the England and Wales Cricket Board as a potential replacement for Manohar. When the motion was floated, not one single Test playing nation backed it and it absolutely fell flat in a great embarrassment for the BCCI.

For the motion to have been passed, first, one of the Test playing nations had to second the motion. Thereafter, the BCCI would have required 75% percent of the votes of the 13 member ICC executive board. Further, the BCCI would have needed 8 out of the 10 Test playing nations to back the move.

Giles Clarke (L) and N Srinivasan (R) worked closely in the ICC

The most interesting development from all of this is the fact that the BCCI tried to seek the help of one-time BCCI and ICC top-man N Srinivasan to push the move forward. N Srinivasan is still said to have great clout in the head-table of both the BCCI and the ICC. Giles Clarke, the potential replacement for Manohar, is also said to be a close aide of Srinivasan.

“It is true that Srinivasan was involved in the discussion to remove Manohar,“ the BCCI official confirmed, “Now that the matter is over, BCCI has decided to move on. The board has enough on its plate at home.“

The BCCI have had issues with Shashank Manohar ever since the latter left the BCCI President’s post 8 months into the job, only to move on to the ICC. Matters only became worse when Manohar tried to change the existing revenue sharing agreement that favoured the ‘Big 3’ – Australia, England and India and also when it was revealed that the ICC have donated a much larger kitty for next year’s ICC Champions Trophy in England when compared to this year’s World T20 in India.

Whether BCCI is clutching at straws at the moment with increased pressure at home from the Lodha Committee is left to be seen. But the attempt to oust Manohar can only be termed as an embarrassment of the largest scale.