Reports: BCCI President Sourav Ganguly likely to contest for ICC Chairman position

The Supreme Court granted BCCI's request on Wednesday to eliminate the required cooling-off period between terms for office holders in state cricket associations and the BCCI, allowing Saurav Ganguly, the president of the BCCI, and Jay Shah, the secretary, to remain in their positions. With this development, it is now being said that Ganguly might be in line for the ICC Chairmanship.

If Ganguly takes the role at ICC, Jay Shah would then take over the BCCI Presidentship and Arun Dhumal would come in as the BCCI Secretary. According to a recent ruling, administrators will only be required to go through the cooling-off phase after serving two terms in a row. State cricket associations will now be subject to the new regulation as well.

As per a report by NDTV Sports, it has been said that the former India skipper may assume the position of ICC chairman in November. The tenure of the current president, Greg Barkley, is about to expire, hence the International Cricket Council must have elections. Earlier, Barkley had shown interest in staying on for an additional two years at the annual conference in Birmingham.

At the Birmingham conference, the process for choosing the next chief was decided. The election of the chairman no longer requires a two-thirds majority. According to a recent proposal, the candidate who wins 51% of the votes shall win. In order to be elected, the candidate requires nine votes from the directors in a 16-member board.

Ganguly will vacate the BCCI position if he succeeds in getting the votes. The current BCCI secretary, Jay Shah, is likely to fill that position, and Arun Dhumal will take over as secretary. The report added that a sizable number of associations support Shah assuming the top position at BCCI.

Ganguly would become the fifth Indian to hold the position of ICC chairman if he manages to win the election. N Srinivasan and Shashank Manohar held the position of ICC chairman before him. When the ICC president position was the top chair, Jagmohan Dalmiya and Sharad Pawar held it.