Sourav Ganguly's BCCI president stint: List of drives and misses

Ganguly's exit, which is also dubbed as an "unceremonious one", has triggered controversies even leading to political ramifications involving the ruling parties of India and the ex-captain's homestate West Bengal - the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) respectively.

Cutting across the controversy, India Blooms presents some of the important decisions Ganguly took as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief as well as the uncomfortable scenarios that popped up under his three-year tenure.

Achievements, Highlights and Controversies of Sourav Ganguly's tenure

Day/Night Test

Ganguly's BCCI was instrumental in hosting the first Day/Night Test (also called Pink Ball Test) in the country.

Then skipper Virat Kohli's Team India took on Bangladesh and headed for a massive win in the Day/Night Test which was held at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in Nov 2019.

Pink Ball Test at the Eden Gardens | Image Credit: BCCI

IPL amid Covid scare

When the world was unable to grasp the evolving and fast-changing scenarios after Covid-19 broke out in 2020, the BCCI managed to organise the delayed IPL for that year in Dubai, where the infection rates were far less.

Domestic cricketers' pay hike

After assuming the charge of the BCCI, Ganguly had clearly stated that his focus would be on first-class cricket.

In a significant decision, Ganguly introduced pay hikes for the cricketers who play in the domestic circuit.

Appointing Rahul Dravid as coach

Ganguly was instrumental in convincing his former colleague Rahul Dravid to become the men's team's head coach after his predecessor Ravi Shastri stepped down.

Sourav Ganguly (L) and Rahul Dravid (R) at the Eden Gardens

Also VVS Laxman was given the charge of the National Cricket Academy after Dravid quit to become the Team India head coach. Ganguly had played an active role in appointing Laxman to the NCA post as well.

Record IPL media rights

The IPL media rights for the period of 2023-2027 were sold at a huge amount of Rs. 48,390 crore, which is the second highest for any sporting event after the United States' National Football League.

Also, the monopoly of a company in acquiring media rights across platforms was broken with two separate biddings for television and digital media.

While Star won the television rights for Rs. 23,575 crore, Viacom 18 bagged the digital rights at a bigger amount of Rs. 23,758 crore.

Women's IPL

Barely a few weeks ago, the outgoing BCCI president had announced the commencement of the women's IPL, which is likely to begin next year.

In a letter to the state associations, Ganguly wrote as quoted by various media, "The BCCI is currently working on the much-awaited Women’s IPL. We are expecting to start the first season early next year."

Captaincy issues involving Virat Kohli

Ganguly's decisions on former skipper Virat Kohli (his stepping down as T20 captain and each other's contradictory remarks on the issue) also earned him the wrath of many in cricketing circles and among Kohli fans.

Virat Kohli (L) and Sourav Ganguly (R) | Image Credit: File Image

Ganguly claimed he had personally requested Kohli not to step down as the T20 skipper, something which the latter contradicted.

Wriddhiman Saha's allegation

After getting dropped from the senior men's team, wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha made an explosive claim that Ganguly had assured him of a berth in Team India as long as he remains the BCCI boss.

The claim had raised questions on whether Ganguly interferes into the team selection, which primarily remains the job of the selection committee.

Endorsements

Reports said former BCCI president and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) owner N Srinivasan was one among those who slammed Sourav Ganguly as a board president accusing him of "nonperformance" and alleging that he had represented brands that were the direct rivals of sponsors of BCCI.

Sourav Ganguly at a launch event of a brand | Image Credit: File Image

Ganguly, a common face for multiple brands catering to diverse products, was also slammed by his ex-colleague and Delhi BJP MP Gautam Gambhir for doing surrogate advertising.

"If the BCCI president (Ganguly) is doing it (endorsing fantasy league), you can't expect other players not to do it," said Gambhir, who made his international debut under Ganguly's captaincy.