Shashank Manohar
Shashank Manohar's couple of two-year terms as the International Cricket Council's first independent chairman that ended on Wednesday has expectedly brought a lot of joy to most BCCI members.
Singapore Cricket Association's former president Imran Khwaja will be the interim ICC chairman.
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The eminent Nagpur lawyer was often viewed as being anti-BCCI. The first instance was when he quit as BCCI president in 2016 to become ICC chairman, a few months before the Supreme Court pronounced the implementation of sweeping changes recommended by the Justice Lodha Committee.
Manohar further upset BCCI members when he successfully renegotiated the 'Big Three' revenue sharing model that was initiated by N Srinivasan during his time as ICC chairman, with the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators running the affairs. Under that model, India would receive the biggest chunk of ICC's revenue followed by Australia and England. However, Manohar brought India's share down from $570m to $405m in the new model. Manohar's decision to keep BCCI away from powerful committees of the ICC like the Finance & Commercial Affairs also did not go down well.
'He diluted BCCI'
"BCCI is very happy that he [Manohar] has gone. He diluted BCCI at the ICC. It was BCCI who gave him that post and he worked against India's interests. No one likes him in the BCCI. I congratulate the new BCCI committee, who saw to it that Manohar does not continue for another term [which would have been his last]," BCCI's former secretary Niranjan Shah told mid-day.
Former BCCI treasurer Ravi Savant felt Manohar was too firm in his views. "He would do whatever he felt was right and would never take people along," he said.
'Wrong to accuse him'
However, those close to Manohar, 62, said the veteran administrator worked in the interest of world cricket. "For the prime minister of a country, the nation's interest is his priority, and not just the state he belongs to. Similarly, when Manohar was elected as ICC chairman, his priority was to focus on the health of world cricket. It is wrong to accuse him of working against the BCCI. When Manohar was the BCCI president, the general body [in the 2016 SGM] had given him the mandate to reduce India's share by no more than 15 per cent in the larger interests of the game. The perceived figure [of $570m] was just on paper. The BCCI never received it. Would cricket grow worldwide if only two or three nations are strong on and off the field? Manohar has seen to it that cricket flourishes especially among minnow teams," said a source.
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