MUMBAI (Agencies): Former captain Sourav Ganguly was unanimously elected onWednesday as president of India’s troubled cricket board, the sport’s mostpowerful body.
Cricket’s massive popularity in India has helped the Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI) become by far the wealthiest of all of the sport’snational boards, netting massive money from sponsorship and TV deals.
But it has also been embroiled in a series of scandals, includingaccusations of corruption and match-fixing that tarnished the IndianPremier League (IPL) — the country’s lucrative T20 competition.
Ganguly, 47, the only nominee to the post, was appointed as the 39th chiefof the BCCI at a meeting in Mumbai.
“It’s official – @SGanguly99 formally elected as the President of BCCI,”the board posted on Twitter. His appointment ends more than two years of aSupreme Court appointed committee overseeing the board’s affairs.
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Ex-chief Anurag Thakur and his number two Ajay Shirke were axed by the topcourt in January 2017 over their failure to enact a series of recommendedreforms.
One of the most successful national captains in the sport, Ganguly haspromised to clean up the mess after he filed his nomination to the postlast week.
The left-handed opener retired from Test cricket in 2008 having accumulated7,212 runs including 16 centuries — his first made at Lord’s on debut.
