N Srinivasan to stay put as ICC chairman till BCCI AGM in September: Anurag Thakur

BCCI secretary said N Srinivasan will stay as ICC president till September. (Source: PTI)

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur on Thursday said former president N Srinivasan will continue as the ICC chairman till September after which the Board will chalk a way forward at its Annual General Meeting.

As per rules, the ICC chairman’s post belongs to the BCCI representative for two years from July 2014 to June 2016.

“Mr Srinivasan will be BCCI’s representative as ICC chairman till September 2015. In September, we will have our Annual General Meeting (AGM) as per schedule where there would be discussions about what will be the way forward for us,” BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur told PTI during an interview.

The Tamil Nadu strongman was BCCI’s unanimous choice for the post of ICC chairman in 2014 but with change of regime, his powers have eroded considerably and it will be upto the board to decide whether he will be allowed to complete his full term, chances of which look extremely dim at the moment.

With a month and half into his tenure, Thakur spoke about a host of issues including the decision to appoint a replacement for Duncan Fletcher.

“The discussions are still on. India’s next international assignment is in June and we still have some time to go for that. We will be certainly appointing a new coach. We (myself and president Dalmiya) are having a discussions with a lot of people. It’s a decision that needs to be taken after a lot of deliberations keeping the interests of Indian cricket in mind,” the BJP leader said when asked about the possible successor of Fletcher.

But Thakur did not forget to mention that BCCI “will speak to all stakeholders” before coming to a decision.

“Mr Dalmiya and myself will be speaking to the senior members of the board as well as senior players. We also sought for captain’s view regarding the matter. We can assure that the best man available for the job will be appointed,” Thakur said.

However, when asked about former India captain Sourav Ganguly’s chances of getting the coach’s job, Thakur presented a dead bat.

“At this point of time, I am not in a position to divulge any names,” he was non-committal.

Asked about how has the first one and half months in the hot seat been, Thakur said,”It’s been good so far. There are challenges but that’s what you expect it to be.”

For Thakur, one of his biggest aims is the development of women’s cricket and arranging more tours for the Indian eves.

“We will be playing the ICC Women’s World Cup in 2017. So the next two years will be used for proper preparation of the team. The aim is to organise more foreign tours for the women’s team prior to the World Cup,” the 40-year-old Member of Parliament from Hamirpur constituency said.

Thakur also said the BCCI is keen to have more exposure tours for the India U-19 and A sides.

“We will shortly chalk up a detailed itinerary for the India A team and the U-19 side. We are planning to have a lot of tours for both the U-19 side and the A team as the focus will be to prepare a good bench strength for the current senior team,” said Thakur.

Source:: Indian Express