Nomination Process For Next Chairman To Be Key Agenda In ICC's Board Meeting Later In The Day

With the ICC already making it clear that a final decision on the fate of this year's T20 World Cup will be taken next month, the primary agenda of discussion will be the nomination process for the chairman's election.

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New Delhi: The International Cricket Council (ICC) will hold yet another virtual meeting later in the day and deliberation on the nomination process for its next chairman will top the agenda. As per reports, the meeting will start at around 3:30 pm (IST). With the current ICC chairman Shashank Manohar not willing to take extension, the all-powerful Board members look forward to finalise the nomination process to convene Manohar's replacement. There are strong chances of England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)’s Colin Graves appears to be the front runner for the post. However, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Saurav Ganguly is also being said to be a strong candidate. Neither Ganguly nor BCCI have outrightly negated the possibility of his candidature. Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ehsan Mani has already ruled himself out of contention during a media interaction earlier in the week where he said that his priority is cricket in his country. It is learnt that it won't be a bad idea for Ganguly to throw his hat in the ring in case the cooling-off period is not waived off. "We still don't know whether Sourav Ganguly has any political ambitions or not. If he has, he can always be the ICC chairman for a year and then be a BJP chief ministerial candidate for the state assembly elections in West Bengal in 2021," a BCCI insider told news agency PTI. For being in the running for the chairman's post, a member is required to have attended a minimum of two board meetings and also needs to be nominated by a current or past director (board member) of the representative country. An ICC Board comprises chairman, 12 Test playing nations, three associate members (Malaysia, Scotland and Singapore as per this turn), independent female director (Indra Nooyi) and chief executive Manu Sawhney. The Chief Executive doesn't have a vote in case of election. ICC in its previous board meeting said that the future of the T20 World Cup — scheduled to be held in Australia later this year — could be decided next month. But due to the reported pressure from BCCI, a decision in this concern could also be expected. However, there is no official confirmation regarding the same. (With inputs from Kuntal Chakraborty)