Ganguly’s BCCI team completes one year, crippled by Corona

By Qaiser Mohammad Ali New Delhi, Oct 23 : The Sourav Ganguly-headed dispensation, a combination of four groups within the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), completed one year in power on Friday. But except for the conduct of the Indian Premier League (IPL), they don’t have many achievements to show, thanks to Covid pandemic that ate up seven of their 12 months.
All the BCCI office-bearers were elected unanimously after four groups — widely identified to be led by Ganguly/north-east, Anurag Thakur, Rajeev Shukla, and former president N Srinivasan — joined hands to avoid elections after a Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) administered the BCCI for 33 months following the 2013 betting-fixing scandal.
Since none of the office-bearers had any experience of running the BCCI, they took time to settle down. Even as they were doing so, the Covid pandemic shut everything down in late March. The officials’ hands were tied as the country was under lockdown and even now cricket has barely begun.
And, now, there is a huge question mark over the 2020-21 domestic season, which has been delayed and could begin in January, Covid permitting. The BCCI Apex Council has decided that only the national championship for the Ranji Trophy, and maybe a senior women’s tournament, would be organised from January, provided the government allows sporting activities to start.
“The office-bearers were all new to the BCCI. To be honest, they didn’t get much time to perform. They hardly got time to settle down as the pandemic closed everything, including sporting activities. Their priority was to save the IPL, which they have done, and the brand continues and revenues are coming,” the president of a state association told IANS.
“But they could not do many other activities, like organising domestic cricket, due to the pandemic. Also, since a former India captain and cricketer was heading the BCCI we were expecting he would bring in new format for domestic tournament with a new mindset. A cricketer — and who had vast experience, a broad outlook,” he said.