The goodwill he earned by demonstrating equity to all members soon after he became the first independent chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) two years ago has enabled Shashank Manohar to get a second two-year term that will be confirmed at the ICC’s annual conference to be held in Dublin from June 27 to July 3.
After getting elected unopposed for a first term in May 2016, Manohar, with assistance from other directors, dismantled the ‘big-three’ power-centre vested with the Boards of India, England and Australia. This altogether changed the governance structure and distribution of revenues.
He was also chiefly responsible for giving voting rights to the associate members and also getting on the ICC Board an independent female director, Indra Nooyi.
The first hints of Manohar getting a second term emerged last December when the representatives of Pakistan (Najam Sethi), Sri Lanka (Thilanga Sumapthipala), Bangladesh (Nazmul Hasan) and India (Amitabh Choudhary) expressed a wish that the former two-time BCCI president would give his consent for another term. The Asian bloc backed Manohar.
Solid support
It was much the same with Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe, England, Ireland and associate member Namibia wholeheartedly supporting Manohar. As expected, Giles Clarke was replaced by Colin Graves on the ICC Board from May 1.
There was speculation that the PCB’s Sethi would nominate Clarke because of PCB’s issues with the BCCI in matters related to bilateral series, but everything changed after the ICC quarterly meeting in Kolkata in April.
In the coming months leading to the annual Conference, the ICC would be involved in taking day/night Test matches further and dealing with an annoying issue such as player behaviour on the ground and in the dressing room. The ICC will look up to Manohar to take it forward.
