New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India is about to get its new president soon, and according to multiple reports, it will be 45-year-old former Delhi captain Mithun Manhas.
His appointment is likely to turn heads in cricketing circles, as in contention were former BCCI president and captain Sourav Ganguly, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh, and former India cricketer Raghuram Bhat.
Manhas will be the first person from Jammu and Kashmir to head the BCCI. He would also become the first cricketer who never played for the national side to hold the post. His highest first-class score is 205 not out.
Former chief election commissioner Achal Kumar Joti announced the nomination list on Monday, with Mithun Manhas being the sole contender for the president’s post. Manhas is likely to be elected unopposed as Ganguly and Harbhajan have withdrawn their nominations, according to The Hindu.
“It has been a tradition in the BCCI to not hold the contest. For the last few years, that is how the BCCI has been choosing the president. There is no contest as they have the largest vote share,” said Vijay Lokapally, a senior sports journalist.
“The last contest was in 2004 when Sharad Pawar and Ranbir Mahendra contested and Pawar lost,” he added.
Ganguly was re-elected unopposed as the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) on Monday.
Recently, the BCCI held a meeting in which Manhas was seen as the strongest contestant. The last day to file the nomination was 21 September, and the final result will be announced on 28 September.
The board was sure that the president’s post would be filled by a cricketer as per the Supreme Court-appointed Lodha committee’s recommendation, which was included in the BCCI constitution in 2019.
As per media reports, the discussions over the nominations lasted until Sunday midnight.
“It wasn’t a straightforward decision for the forces in the BCCI. All the technicalities were discussed around Manhas. Legal opinion was taken in this regard. The board found a way around to have a cricketer as the president,” said Lokapally.
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Manhas has had a long and successful domestic cricket career. He began his journey with Delhi in the 1997-98 season. However, he couldn’t find a place in the Indian team.
“He was always a people’s person. Don’t forget he had been a Delhi captain in a team that had a lot of big stars and players who represented Team India. They played under him and he managed them fairly well,” said former India opener and cricket analyst Aakash Chopra.
He added that Manhas came from Jammu after playing in the U-16 team. “We played together for the Delhi U-19 as well as the India U-19 and the Delhi senior teams,” he added.
Manhas established himself as a major player in domestic cricket. He also captained the Delhi Ranji team. Even ace batsman Virat Kohli played under his leadership. Early in his career, Manhas performed brilliantly in the 2007-08 Ranji season, scoring 921 runs at an average of 57.56 and contributing to Delhi’s title win that season.
“Manhas played his entire cricket career in Delhi. He is a very disciplined and calm person. He had improved Jammu and Kashmir’s cricket infrastructure and formed a women’s cricket team. The J&K women’s team defeated Mumbai once in the Ranji trophy under his guidance,” said Lokapally.
Manhas returned to his hometown in Jammu and Kashmir in 2015. His first-class career includes 157 matches, 9,714 runs, and 27 centuries. Additionally, he scored 4,126 runs in 130 ‘List A’ matches and 1,170 runs in 91 T20 matches.
After retiring from cricket, Manhas tried his hand at coaching. He was appointed the assistant coach of the Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in 2017. He then became the batting consultant for the Bangladesh U-19 team. After working there for two years, he returned to the IPL and joined the Royal Challengers Bengaluru as the assistant coach.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)