Shashank Manohar left the whole cricketing world stunned with his sudden resignation as the International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman on Wednesday. CricketSoccer contacted with him as well as with his followers in Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to find out the probable reasons behind this decision. When Mr. Manohar himself tried to avoid controversy, his close officials claimed that he was compelled to resign from his post in ICC, and that he was hurt by the attitude of the BCCI.
CricketSoccer has a copy of the resignation letter that Manohar sent to the ICC Chief Executive Officer, David Richardson on Wednesday. In that letter, Manohar has shown personal reasons behind his decision. He wrote, ‘I have tried to do my best and have tried to be fair and impartial in deciding matters in the functioning of the Board and in matters related to Member Boards along with the able support of all Directors. However, for personal reasons it is not possible for me to hold the august office of ICC Chairman and hence I am tendering my resignation as chairman with immediate effect’.
When contacted over the land phone at his residency at Nagpur on Wednesday evening, Mr. Manohar, at first, was not willing to make any remark. However, after repeated request for a reaction, he told, ”I have already mentioned in my resignation letter that I’m stepping down on personal grounds. Please don’t try to find out any controversy behind my decision.”
Yet, CricketSoccer comes to know that the BCCI, along with the Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe cricket boards had a meeting in Colombo on Wednesday, the agenda might have been to finalise the path of opposing the proposed reforms by Manohar as the ICC Chairman. This meeting, according to the sources, could have been one of the reasons for Manohar’s resignation.
When asked, Manohar said he did not even know about the meeting and that his resignation had nothing to do with it.
However, according to the followers of Mr. Manohar, BCCI has created such a situation that there was no way for him but resign. One of the highly regarded official from the Vidarbha Cricket Association, in condition of anonymity, told CS, ”Manohar is such a person who can never be enticed by power or authority. He always works with dignity and self respect. But in last few months, he was not getting the due respect and that too from his own association, BCCI. He was hurt by the constant opposition of the BCCI officials, who never accepted the reformation programme planned by Mr. Manohar. That is why he chose to step down.
” That official, who also used to hold a high position in BCCI’s media committee, further said, ”Recently Mr. Manohar expressed deep sorrow as he was not getting much needed support from BCCI in most of the times. He never took anything for granted and wanted to lead the ICC in a new way. In the revised revenue distribution model worked out by the ICC and approved in principle during its meetings in February, the entire cricketing world would have been benefited. Unfortunately, BCCI failed to realize the outcome of the plan and opposed it. Manohar was hurt. He was thinking to step down for a while.”
Manohar, a former BCCI president, was leading the fight to to decentralise the power held by BCCI, CA and ECB, known as the ‘Big Three’. The bosses of the Indian, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe boards met in Colombo and united against the ICC reforms agenda. It is known that they came together to oppose the cancellation of the Big Three formula of the international cricket body’s revenue sharing. Now it remains to be seen how the ICC situation unfolds in the coming days.
