Sourav Ganguly was one of the most successful captains of the Indian cricket team and his tenure as the BCCI president too has started on a similar note. Ganguly, who was elected as the 39th president of BCCI in October, immediately sprang into action by organizing India’s first ever Day-Night Test in November and also promised a four-nation tournament with England and Australian cricket boards later on. The performance of the Indian team on the field has also been impeccable in the last year with the Virat Kohli led side winning against South Africa, Bangladesh, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Australia. Naturally, the comparisons of Ganguly the captain and Ganguly the BCCI president cropped up. But Ganguly wasn’t alone. The core of the side that Ganguly led was formed by Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and him. Is it the same case even in BCCI now?
After completing three months as the BCCI chief, Ganguly was asked about the Tendulkar, Dravid and Kumble of his BCCI team to which the former India captain gave a stunning reply. “Sare hai (Everyone is there), Jay (Shah) is there, Arun (Dhumal) is there, we all work together,” Ganguly told ABP News.
“It’s very difficult to say who is Tendulkar, Dravid or Kumble. We are very good friends and we all come from different backgrounds. Arun runs a school, Jay has his own business and I come from the cricket field,” added Ganguly.
Both Jay Shah (BCCI secretary) and Arun Dhumal (BCCI treasurer) were appointed at the same time in October. The fourth member of Ganguly’s team is Jayesh Geroge, who was appointed as the joint secretary of BCCI.
Ganguly also highlighted that their first job was to take BCCI out of the tough situation it found itself in the past 3 years.
“All of us think along the same line. And our main aim is to bring back cricket administration which was not in good shape for the last 3 years. There have been a few changes in these 3 months and we will keep on working like this for the improvement of Indian cricket. We are playing well on the field and we want keep doing well off the field too,” Ganguly said.
When asked to rate his tenure in the BCCI so far, Ganguly said, “It’s very difficult to give marks like this. As I said, it is important to run cricket well, it the right manner,” Ganguly said.
On the proposed four-nation tournament Ganguly said it is on the pipelines with cricket boards of England and Australia and they will start acting on it once the revenue model is prepared.