Sourav Ganguly, the former India skipper, last month took over as the 39th BCCI president. However, it's a position the prince of Kolkata will have to relinquish next year after just ten months at the helm as per the newly adopted board constitution.
This is because of the cooling-off period each office bearer in Indian cricket is liable to go through. Ganguly had been president of the Cricket Association of Bengal for three years before taking over in his current role.
However, former opener Gautam Gambhir disagrees with the clause as he feels his ex-teammate will have very little time to do what he wants.
"Personally speaking, I am not a big fan of cooling-off period for office-bearers. I have said this before and I will say it again that Indian cricket needs individuals like Sourav Ganguly," Gambhir wrote in his column for the Times of India.
"They not only have minds of their own but they also have vision and ability to lead inclusive growth. Besides, he knows his weaknesses better than his strengths and knows how to work on them."
"It will be a shame if Dada has to leave after 10 months. At the same time, I am not suggesting to undo the fantastic work done by Lodha Committee," he added.
There are talks that the current regime is hoping to get an extended tenure if the supreme court of India passes through amendments to certain clauses in the board constitution, as could reportedly be done in the next month's annual general meeting.
Gambhir hopes that doesn't result in another round of "courtroom deliberations" as we've seen before.
"There is a lot of talk about ways and means being discussed to extend the tenure of newly-elected BCCI office-bearers," he wrote. "The agenda circulated for the December 1 AGM of the board clearly suggests that we haven’t heard the last on this matter."
"The voice from the Lodha camp is that this will be 'ridiculing Supreme Court'. This is understandable considering the efforts that the RM Lodha Committee had put in to suggest reforms for the BCCI constitution. I hope we are not heading for another episode of courtroom deliberations," Gambhir concluded.
(Inputs from TOI)
