Sourav Ganguly was left upset and disappointed after not getting the backing of the state associations in the meeting to continue as the BCCI President earlier this week.
The former India captain who has been the BCCI President since 2019 – and was the CAB president for 5 years before – is all but confirmed to be not re-elected, and in his place, 1983 World Cup winner Roger Binny is likely to be elected as the new board President.
Speaking at an event organised by Bandhan Bank, Sourav Ganguly hinted that his end as BCCI President is imminent, stating that one cannot be a player or an administrator all their lives. The 50-year-old said that he’s ready to “move on to something else”.
“I was the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal for five years. I have been president of BCCI for years. After all these terms, you have to leave and go. As an administrator, you have to contribute a lot and make things better for the team. Me being a player, who was around for a long time, understood it. I enjoyed my time as an administrator thoroughly. You cannot play forever and you cannot remain in administration forever,” said Ganguly.
“Whatever you do in life, I keep telling everyone that the best days were when you play for the country. I have seen so much after that. I’ve been the president of the CAB (Cricket Association of Bengal), I was the president of BCCI, I will go on to do bigger things in future. But those 15 years were the best days of my life,” the inspirational Indian skipper added.
Sourav Ganguly doesn’t have the support of the state associations
Cricbuzz reported that Ganguly’s time at the BCCI office was filled with controversies – the captaincy saga with Kohli, injuries to players, failure in ICC events, BCCI sponsors being unhappy with Ganguly endorsing rival brands – and that made the state associations not give him their votes.
Ganguly also recalled his days as the Indian skipper, and how he rose the side from taking over the captaincy amid turbulent waters.
“It was six captains leading the team. I stood up for Rahul when he was almost dropped from the one-day side. I took their suggestions in picking the team. These things don’t go unnoticed in a team environment.
“It’s not just the runs I scored. People remember other things. It’s what you do as a leader for them,” said the former captain.
