CAB elections on July 31

With Sourav Ganguly at the helm as the president, this will be the first time the former India captain will be putting his candidature for a full term.

A fil picture of Sourav Ganguly.

The Cricket Association of Bengal sounded the official bugle for elections to its various posts announcing the date of the Annual General Meeting, which will be held on July 31. With Sourav Ganguly at the helm as the president, this will be the first time the former India captain will be putting his candidature for a full term.

Ganguly took over the reins of one of the oldest cricket associations in the country as the president, on October 15 last year when he was elected unopposed in a special general meeting after the death of the previous incumbent, Jagmohan Dalmiya on September 20. Ganguly, who has the open support of the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, will have to wait till the last date of filing of nomination on July 23 to understand whether he will be regaining the post unchallenged once again.

Among the other aspirants will be Jagmohan Dalmiya’s son Abhishek, who stepped into the post of joint secretary, which was vacated by Sourav Ganguly. The other aspirants in the fray will be known in a few days but the interest will be on the plans of present treasurer Biswarup Dey, who is thought to be setting up an opposition panel against Ganguly.

The last working committee meeting of CAB also decided to have its annual prize distribution ceremony on July 23, where it will be honouring former batsman Gopal Bose with the Lifetime Achievement award. Bengal batsman Sudip Chatterjee has been named the best cricketer.

Bengal also announced a 16-member squad under the captaincy of Manoj Tiwary, which will be playing K. Thimmappiah Memorial invitational tournament in Karnataka to prepare ahead of the new season. Bengal pacer Ashok Dinda was the prominent omission in the squad, which the CAB officials said was primarily selected to give the youngsters a chance to prepare.