Shashank Manohar is the 'unanimous choice' for the vacant BCCI president post

(From the left) Shashank Manohar, Anurag Thakur and Sharad Pawar

Former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) treasurer and Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) president Ajay Shirke said that Shashank Manohar is the frontrunner for the vacant BCCI President place with "unanimous choice" of the Sharad Pawar-Anurag Thakur alliance, reports Times of India (TOI).

According to TOI, when Shirke was asked whether Manohar had agreed to take over the top post, he replied back confidently saying ‘yes’.

"Manohar is our unanimous choice," Shirke said. "Yes. I wouldn't be telling you this otherwise. I've no doubt that he has (agreed). The formal announcement regarding this will be made soon."

Recently, Pawar was spotted in Nagpur with N Srinivasan and the news got speculated that both had joined hands for the massive board president decision. By dismissing all the news flying in the air, Shirke Pawar and rest of the members are all behind Manohar.

"I don't know why the media went to town saying that there was a 'deal' between them. Can you please show me the 'deal'? Thousands of people go to meet Pawar everyday . Did Pawar say anywhere that he wanted to become the president again? I give full credit to him here. He will never do something which is against the interests of the board.

"Pawar, and all of us, are fully behind Manohar. In times like these, the board needs a strong president like him," Shirke stressed. The veteran administrator also praised Thakur. "He has done a wonderful job in the last six months," Shirke said.

Prior to this, yesterday, reports suggested that Thakur and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley have also arrived at a consensus over the name of Manohar as the new board president. After the sudden demise of chief Jagmohan Dalmiya, the top vacant place of the richest cricket board in the world is the most discussed topic across the cricket fraternity.

Manohar has served as the 29th President of the BCCI from 2008 to 2011. As a cricket administrator, he is known for his impeccable track record & integrity in cricketing circles, justifying the predicate ‘Mr.Clean' attributed to him. He is often credited as the 'best president BCCI ever had'. Under his presidency, India regained the World Cup title after a gap of 28 years.

When Srinivasan was named in the Mudgal Committee report along his nephew Gurunath Meiyappan during the spot-fixing scandal, Manohar was the first one to directly oppose the then President Srinivasan.