Gavaskar backs Ganguly for interim BCCI President

New Delhi, Jan 3 (IANS) Legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar on Tuesday backed former national team captain Saurav Ganguly to take over as interim president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The BCCI is currently undergoing an administrative crisis following the sacking of President Anurag Thakur and Secretary Ajay Shirke by the Supreme Court.

Both Thakur and Shirke were on Monday removed from their posts for their failure to implement the Justice R.M. Lodha committee's recommendations in running the board.

Following the duo's ouster, various names have cropped up to take over the reigns of the national cricket board.

Since the sacking of the duo, many names including that of Ganguly -- the current Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) President -- have been doing the rounds to succeed Thakur on an interim basis.

Ganguly also fits the bill as the Lodha Committee, in its initial recommendations, had stressed that former players should administer the BCCI.

"BCCI has got very good bench strength to take up the bigger roles and one name that comes to my mind is Sourav Ganguly," Gavaskar was quoted as saying by NDTV news channel.

"Remember, in 1999-2000 when Indian cricket was gripped by the match-fixing saga, Ganguly was given the Indian team captaincy and he turned it around," the diminutive former opener added.

A bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud in their order said that as an interim arrangement, the senior most Vice President of the BCCI would act as the President and the Joint Secretary would be the Secretary.

Ganguly, however is not a vice-president and would even complete a three-year tenure in office in CAB and hence could be ineligible for the post.