How Mithun Manhas, a left-field choice, became the BCCI president in an election minus palace intrigue | Cricket News

Ganguly, former off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and former left-arm spinner Raghuram Bhat were the other three eligible candidates for the president’s post with the BCCI narrowing the search to former cricketers for the top post. Their respective states associations had named them as representatives for the AGM but none of them filed the nomination papers last Sunday (September 21), the last date, which left just Manhas in the fray.

Mithun, who played 157 first-class fixtures scoring 9714 runs at 45.82, thus became the ‘chosen one’ for the role. A couple of former greats were sounded out about them being looked at as potential BCCI presidents but both of them declined the role thus narrowing down the field further as the power centres of the BCCI wanted to have a former player as its president.

The last three elections have taken place post the Justice Lodha Committee recommendations for governance and administrative reforms.

Since 2015, BCCI AGMs have been straightforward affairs, minus election-day intrigue. At those elections, there were two factions and former administrator N Srinivasan was barred by the Supreme Court from contesting because of conflict-of-interest issues. While veteran administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya became the consensus candidate for warring groups, Anurag Thakur pipped Sanjay Patel for the secretary’s post.

In 2005 Ranbir Singh Mahendra was elected as the president after he won because of the casting vote from Jagmohan Dalmiya, the outgoing president. Mahendra and Sharad Pawar were tied before Dalmiya’s intervention.

Ganguly, who had served as BCCI president between 2019 and 2022, had more experience in administration than Manhas but he was seen as someone who could rock the boat. Harbhajan, a veteran of 103 Tests and Rajya Sabha MP, like Manhas didn’t have experience as administrator at the highest-level, though the former off-spinner, is an instantly recognisable face. Bhat has served as the president of Karnataka State Cricket Association. After Binny, he would have been the second BCCI president from Karnataka. So Bhat was handed the keys to the treasurer’s office, where he replaced Chhattisgarh’s Prabhtej Bhatia, who is now the joint-secretary.

Mithun was a left field choice. Prior to a meeting in Delhi last week, where some of the old guards were also present, Mithun wasn’t in contention, it is learnt. However, at that meeting, when the powers at play put forward his name, no objections were made.

Born in Jammu, he represented Delhi in the Ranji Trophy and went back to his home state only towards the end of his long playing career that began in 1997 and ended in 2016. Post playing career, like many cricketers of his era, has been part of different Indian Premier League franchises, as a support staff. From Punjab Kings to Royal Challengers Bengaluru to Gujarat Titans, he has served as batting coach and assistant coach.

And in 2021 when the BCCI wanted to form a sub-committee to handle the day-to-day affairs of the dysfunctional Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association, Mithun was made part of the committee. He was in-charge of cricketing affairs. Even at JKCA, for the administrative role, the BCCI had named Brigadier Anil Gupta. However, it was Mithun’s presence in the committee that made him eligible to be nominated by JKCA for the AGM, which in turn facilitated his election to the top role.

At Jammu, when he was the player, he opted out for a game after Parvez Rasool – the first international cricketer from Kashmir – was named captain for a Ranji fixture. With Mithun as an administrator, J&K made the quarterfinals of Ranji last season.