Sourav Ganguly denies he is a front-runner for BCCI top job

"My name is coming up unnecessarily. I don’t qualify. I have just completed one year (as the CAB president) and have got two more years left. I am not in the running (for the BCCI president’s post), " the former India captain said.

Sourav Ganguly said the Cricket Association of Bengal had no option but to obey the SC order.

The transition phase for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be dictated by the administrators who will take over soon.

Sportstar learnt on Tuesday that the process of transferring power to the new set of office-bearers is to be finalised under the supervision of the administrators. “It is a long way off,” said a source when asked who could be the next president.

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According to sources in the Lodha Committee, the administrators, to be picked by senior advocate Gopal Subramanium and Anil Divan, would run the cricket affairs in the country until things are in place for a new set of office-bearers to take over.

“There is no need for an interim president if none qualifies to be one. The administrators are competent enough to form a panel that will oversee the conduct of the game. The new office-bearers are to be elected on the basis of the new constitution that will be uniform and binding on the all the State associations,” said the source.

The process would begin with the appointment of administrators. “Fresh elections will be held for the office-bearers under the supervision of the Lodha panel. Cricket won’t be disturbed because competent people would be in-charge before the new set of office-bearers take over the responsibility,” the source confirmed the course of action.

Speculation had been rife that the senior-most vice-president of the Board would replace Anurag Thakur as the interim president. But it is understood that no such move was on the anvil as far as the Lodha Panel was concerned. “None of them (vice-presidents) meets the criteria set by the Supreme Court ruling,” asserted the source.

Even as Sourav Ganguly’s name cropped up, he was quick to dismiss the suggestion that he was a frontrunner for the post of Board’s president.

“My name is coming up unnecessarily. I don’t qualify. I have just completed one year (as the CAB president) and have got two more years left. I am not in the running (for the BCCI president’s post), ” said the former India captain in Kolkata.

Asked whether the CAB would implement the Committee’s reforms, Ganguly said the association had no option but to obey the SC order. “We are having an office-bearers’ meeting tomorrow (Wenesday) where we will decide on the future.”

Ganguly said CAB would hold its special general meeting only after the conduct of the third One-Day International between India and England at the Eden Gardens on January 22. The CAB chief said even though several of the present officials would be ineligible to contest in the association’s polls, there would be others to fill the void.