New Delhi: Mithun Manhas became the new president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) during the Board’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Mumbai. The former Delhi skipper replaced Roger Binny to be elected as the new chief of the world’s richest cricket board.
Roger stepped down from the position after he turned 70 (BCCI’s office bearers have an upper age limit of 70). Rajiv Shukla, who was the vice-president, took charge in the meantime as interim president.
A fantastic fact about Mithun, which engaged fans, was that the former Delhi cricketer was the skipper of Delhi when Indian ace batter Virat Kohli made his Ranji Trophy debut in 2006.
Later, Kohli and Mithun reunited in the Indian Premier League (IPL), when Kohli was captaining Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Mithun became the assistant coach of the franchise.
Mithun built a strong reputation in the domestic circuit but failed to make a debut for the national side. He became the first uncapped player to take charge of the BCCI. Mithun made his first-class debut in 1997/98 and established himself as a household name in Delhi cricket.
The BCCI chief played a pivotal role in Delhi’s Ranji Trophy title triumph in 2007/08 and helped his state team to end the drought of 16 years for the first-class trophy.
Mithun has played 157 first-class games, scoring 9714 runs at an average of 45.82. He has smashed 27 tons and 49 half-centuries in his domestic career. Mithun also played for Jammu and Kashmir for several years and ended his career with the J&K team in 2016.
The BCCI chief also played with three franchises in the IPL—Delhi Daredevils, Pune Warriors India, and Chennai Super Kings. After his retirement, he became the coach of Delhi’s Ranji team in 2018 and was seen in several support roles with IPL franchises.
Other office-bearers of BCCI
Rajiv Shukla continues to take charge as vice-president, while Devajit Saikia is serving as the Secretary. Former Karnataka player Raghuram Bhat is the Treasurer of BCCI, as he is responsible for the financial conditions. Prabhtej Bhatia is serving as Joint Secretary and helps in the Board’s administrative framework.