Sanjay Jagdale pips Ranjib Biswal to become new BCCI joint secretary

The current BCCI joint secretary Sanjay Jagdale is all set to become the new secretary pipping hot favourite Ranjib Biswal as the media release issued by the board confirmed his nomination for upcoming Annual General Meeting that will be held in Mumbai.

The former Madhya Pradesh all-rounder Jagdale has also served as a national selector.

There will be no elections during the 82nd edition that will be held in Mumbai tomorrow with N Srinivasan taking over as the president.

Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association boss Anurag Thakur will become the joint secretary while Maharashtra Cricket Association secretary and Sharad Pawar confidant Ajay Shirke will be the treasurer. Rajiv Shukla is set to become the new IPL chairman.

It wasn't exactly a cakewalk for Srnivasan and company as far as the post of joint secretary is concerned. While Biswal who is a Srinivasan aide was tipped to take over the mantle, his candidature faced strong opposition from the eastern units.

"The Cricket Association of Bengal, Assam Cricket Association and Jharkhand State Cricket Association strongly objected to Biswal being projected as the secretary. In fact JSCA president Amitabh Chaudhry was the choice by eastern states. There was so much of disharmony that Jagdale turned out to be a compromise candidate," a BCCI official in the know of things informed.

It was learnt that Biswal was peeved as he never expected such stiff opposition and even wanted to fight elections but decided otherwise once he came to know that he didn't have mandate to get into straight fight with Jagdale.

 Also a compromise theory is doing the rounds that eastern state units who wanted Raja Venkat's ouster finally relented when Srinivasan decided to zero in on Jagdale as the secretary.

It is learnt that Srinivasan had to accept their complaint of Venkat's non-performance as national selector and promised that the former Bengal batsman's performance will be under scanner for the next one year.

The other thing that became clear was that save Yashpal Sharma who has completed his four-year term, Krish Srikkanth, Venkat, Narendra Hirwani and Surendra Bhave are all set to be retained.

For North Zone selector's post Vikram Rathour and Sanjeev Sharma are in the running.

Following nomination were confirmed

Hony. Secretary: Sanjay Jagdale; Hony. Jt. Secretary: Anurag Thakur; Hony Treasurer: Ajay Shirke.

Vice-Presidents: North Zone: Arun Jaitley; South Zone: Shivlal Yadav; East Zone: Chitrak Mitra; West Zone: Niranjan Shah; Central Zone: Sudhir Dabir.

The current BCCI secretary Narayanaswami Srinivasan and joint secretary Sanjay Jagdale will officially take over the responsibilities of president and secretary respectively at the 82nd AGM to be held here tomorrow.

While Srinivasan, the President-elect for one year, takes over the reins from Shashank Manohar, outgoing joint secretary Jagdale became the lone nominee for the secretary's post after pipping hot favourite Ranjib Biswal from Orissa.

Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association boss Anurag Thakur will become the joint secretary while Maharashtra Cricket Association secretary and Sharad Pawar confidant Ajay Shirke will be the treasurer. Rajiv Shukla is set to become the new IPL chairman.

It wasn't exactly a cakewalk for Srinivasan and company as far as the post of joint secretary is concerned. While Biswal who is a Srinivasan aide was tipped to take over the mantle, his candidature faced strong opposition from the eastern units.

"The Cricket Association of Bengal, Assam Cricket Association and Jharkhand State Cricket Association strongly objected to Biswal being projected as the secretary. In fact JSCA president Amitabh Chaudhry was the choice by eastern states. There was so much of disharmony that Jagdale turned out to be a compromise candidate," a BCCI official in the know of things informed.

It was learnt that Biswal was peeved as he never expected such stiff opposition and even wanted to fight elections but decided otherwise once he came to know that he didn't have mandate to get into straight fight with Jagdale.