Date set for Shashank Manohar return

New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India has set Sunday, October 4, as the date for its special general meeting to elect a new president to replace the late Jagmohan Dalmiya, with indications being that Vidharba strongman Shashank Manohar will be the only candidate.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the South Africa XI versus Board President’s XI at the Palam grounds here on Tuesday, board secretary Anurag Thakur said the meeting would be held in Mumbai and scrutiny of nominations will be done on Saturday, October 3 “Shashank Manohar is our consensus candidate,” Thakur said.

Asked whether displaced president N. Srinivasan was eligible to be present, Thakur said, “Srinivasan can come and vote,” but added that the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association chief could however, not attend the SGM.

The Supreme Court hearing on Srinivasan’s eligibility on attending BCCI meeting is slated for October 5. Manohar, who was BCCI president from 2008 to 2011, had initially turned down offers to replace Dalmiya, but agreed when it emerged that Srinivasan and another former board chief Sharad Pawar were in talks over the latter’s candidacy.

Opposition from within the Pawar camp however, put paid to that hope and with new Cricket Association of Bengal Sourav Ganguly also agreeing to Manohar as an acceptable alternative, the formality of an East Zone proposer also appears to be a done deal. The only fly in the ointment could be a legal challenge from the Srinivasan camp, but given the sheer weight of numbers ranged against it, that idea may well be put on the back-burner, even if temporarily. With the Bharatiya Janata Party — well represented in the BCCI now — throwing its weight behind Manohar, the votes he gets in the event of an election could be upwards of 20 out of 29.