AMN /New Delhi
Veteran sports administrator Shahshank Manohar has made it clear that his decision to step down as ICC chairman is no way linked to his relationship with the Bpard of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)
He disclosed that he had informed the Committee of Administrators (CoA), which is presently running the BCCI,his decision to quit the ICC office a day before he resigned . “It has nothing to do with the ICC functioning or these issues which are going to come up,” he told ESPNcricinfo .
Manohar said he had revealed to the COA that he was going to leave the ICC. “I told them before the meeting started that I had discussed my resignation with my wife yesterday only, and I am likely to resign. I have a message from the COA today that yesterday you told us that you were going to resign, but we were surprised. We never thought you were so serious.”
He refused to give reasons for quitting saying “Personal reason means genuinely personal. And I don’t lie.”Manohar maintained that he could not have revealed his decision earlier to the ICC. “Most of the directors would not have allowed me not to resign.”
He said he was happy with the work he had managed to accomplish during his eight-month tenure, and that he could not say whether he had disappointed the ICC board by leaving at this critical juncture. ‘” I will not reconsider my decision””.
After being elected as the ICC’s first independent chairman in May 2016, Manohar went ahead to dismantle the Big Three model. This annoyed the BCCI as he reportedly wanted the BCCI’s share of ICC revenue cut from 20.60% to about 16%.
However, in the revised revenue distribution model worked out by the ICC and approved in principle during its meetings in February, the BCCI’s share was further reduced to 10-10.2%: a cut of $180-190 million.
BCCI also took a grim view of his approach to overlook the importance of Big three-India, England and Australia- saying he was going against the body that had put him at the helm of ICC in the first place.
Despite toigh opposition from the BCCI, the ICC board voted in favour of accepting the draft constitution prepared by a five-member group led by Manohar. Only two boards had voted against it – the BCCI and SLC, while Zimbabwe Cricket abstained.
The BCCI had been represented at that ICC meeting by Vikram Limaye, who is a member of the CoA.He had questioned the logic behind the new revenue distribution model, saying the methods used to arrive at such a break-up weren’t scientific.
Manohar, however, defended the new system during his meeting with CoA members Limaye and Vinod Rai in Mumbai . “It was a very good, constructive meeting,” “I will maintain even today that there cannot be a scientific formula.”he added.