CHENNAI: Shashank Manohar belongs to a unique brand of cricket administrators. He quits posts others crave for. But instead of winning brownie points, this uniqueness is likely to mark him out as one who sidestepped responsibility and let the establishment down.
With the ICC about to start the process of appointing an interim chairman, while still recovering from the shock of Manohar's sudden resignation, the man himself said he has no feeling of letting anyone down. He could have continued in the post till 2021, but stepped down after nine months into his tenure as the ICC's first independent chairman.
“Everybody is entitled to a view. If people want to say my resignation has let the ICC down, they can say that. As far as I am concerned, I did not let anybody down. I did my best as ICC chairman, but can't continue because of certain reasons. Since the reasons are personal, I wouldn’t like to say what they are,” Manohar told The Sunday Standard from his Nagpur residence last week.
Manohar’s departure comes just weeks before a crucial meeting of the ICC Board in Edinburgh, where a host of revamp measures including amendment of constitution and restructuring of revenue sharing model will come up for approval.
Because he proposed most of these changes, his absence makes the future of these plans uncertain. It is believed that he was upset with the volte-face by certain boards, who decided to support BCCI on the issue of revenue sharing.
“My decision has nothing to do with matters related to ICC or BCCI. If you say the cricket fraternity is surprised by my decision, I would like to add that I can't help that. I took a decision which according to me was the right one.” Manohar didn't specify anything, other than saying that his career in cricket is over. “Where will I go?”
Not a frequent visitor to the ICC head office in Dubai, Manohar was on good terms with the staff and his colleagues. No formal meeting is required to appoint an interim chairman, who has to be from the existing executive board.
A new chairman will be elected at the next ICC conference. He doesn't have to be nominated by any board, but must be a former director/president from a full member board. England’s Giles Clarke, Australia's David Peever are possible names.