Sports desk: Sourav Ganguly, former India captain, took over as the president of Board of Control For Cricket In India (BCCI) on Wednesday. Jay Shah, son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, began his tenure as the new secretary while Arun Dhumal takes office as treasurer. Dhumal is the younger brother of Minister of State for Finance and former BCCI president Anurag Thakur. There were no elections held for appointments of the posts since all candidates emerged unopposed after weeks of lobbying and hectic parleys. Ganguly is the first India cricketer after the Maharaja of Vizianagaram to become the president of Board of Control For Cricket in India (BCCI).
Ganguly, however, will be able to serve as BCCI president only up to September 2020, as he is currently the president of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and will have to go into a compulsory cooling off period.
Ganguly took over as CAB president in 2015, following the death of his administrative mentor Jagmohan Dalmiya.
The 47-year-old Sourav Ganguly had said that he wants to emulate Dalmiya's success at the role.
Sourav Ganguly on supporting Virat Kohli
Speaking about the captain of the Indian cricket team, Sourav Ganguly said, “I will speak to Virat Kohli tomorrow (Thursday, October 24). He is the captain of India; I think he is the most important man in Indian cricket. I will have a word with him, and as I said, we will support him in every possible way. He wants to make this team the best in the world. It's been a great team, to be honest, the way they have played cricket in the last three to four years, they have been a fantastic side. Yes, you can say that they have not won a World Cup, but you don’t win World Cups every time. We will hopefully support him with whatever he wants and make sure that Indian cricket goes ahead smoothly. In terms of Test cricket venues, we have a lot of States and a lot of venues. We will have to sit with him (Virat Kohli) and see what he wants in that way and take it forward from there.”
