Cricinfo
Pics: Rons Bantwal
Mumbai, Sep 28: India's newly-appointed national selectors, the first set to be paid by the BCCI, will be on a four-year contract which will be reviewed annually, according to Shashank Manohar, the board's new president. Manohar was confirmed as Sharad Pawar's successor at the annual general meeting in Mumbai, while Kris Srikkanth was appointed the new chairman of the selection panel.
The BCCI unveiled its new list of office-bearers at the meeting, and declared revenues of Rs 1000.14 crore (approximately US$215 million) for the previous year, with Rs 559.31 crore coming from media rights alone. While the board's revenues have jumped by 36% from the previous year, according to its annual report, its profit for 2007-2008 is Rs 303.15 crore.
The BCCI also approved the increased payments for domestic players, and has decided to set up an exclusive sports medicine centre.
While those were the major announcements, the handover was smooth and underlined the fact that the reshuffle was essentially a result of an arrangement that will continue to see Pawar, who is the ICC vice-president, remain firmly in control of Indian cricket, albeit in an advisory capacity. Manohar, said to be a hardliner, is a staunch loyalist of the federal minister.
In fact, the new arrangements that were formalised today resembled a game of musical chairs among administrators of the ruling group. N Srinivasan, the previous BCCI treasurer, is now its secretary, and takes over from Niranjan Shah, who has been accommodated as IPL vice-chairman. Sanjay Jagdale, the former selector, takes over from MP Pandove as the board's joint secretary; Pandove is now the treasurer.
Among other significant appointments, Lalit Modi, who heads the IPL and Champions League, will now also head the BCCI's influential fixtures committee that decides on venues and dates for international matches in India. Modi remains on the marketing committee, which is headed by Pawar.
Besides Srikkanth, the other national selectors are Yashpal Sharma (North Zone), Raja Venkat (East), Surendra Bhave (West) and Narendra Hirwani (Central). N Srinivasan, who takes over as secretary from Niranjan Shah, will be the convenor of the selection panel. MP Pandove replaces Srinivasan as treasurer while Jagdale is the new joint secretary. The five vice-presidents are Arun Jaitley (North Zone), Shivlal Yadav (South), Arindam Ganguly (East), Chirayu Amin (West), and Lalit Modi (Central).
The BCCI also named its junior selection committee, which will be chaired by Abey Kuruvilla, the former India bowler, and also includes Sanjeev Sharma, Sanjay Desai, Rajesh Bohra and Rajendra Singh Hans. The panel will be convened by Jagdale.
Shah has been appointed to a new post - the vice-chairman of the council. The governing council also includes Chirayu Amin, Farooq Abdulla, Rajeev Shukla, IS Bindra, Arun Jaitley, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and the Nawab of Pataudi.
The BCCI announced that cricketers who played the 2007-08 Ranji Trophy will earn Rs 37,000 per match day, up from Rs 25,000-26,000 in 2006-07. They also nominated umpires Amiesh Saheba and Suresh Shastri to the ICC panel.
The Indian board granted Affiliate Memberships to the Meghalaya Cricket Association, Nagaland Cricket Association, and Arunachal Cricket Association while Chhattisgarh State Cricket Association and Bihar Cricket Association were given Associate Membership.