Kolkata: The year was 2006, and the venue was Johannesburg, the opposition was South Africa. The Prince of Kolkata Sourav Ganguly made a mother of all comebacks with a match-winning 51 after being axed some six months ago. Cut to 2022, Ganguly suffered another setback, when despite his desire to continue as the president for another term, he was shunted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) rather unceremoniously.
It looks like Ganguly has the same hunger and passion that worked in favour of the Prince of Kolkata back in 2006 working this time around. He is back in the fray for the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and is tipped to contest for the president's post if there's an election in the Annual general meeting slated to be held on October 31.
Read: 'FAB 15': India's young and old ready to turn tables
The game that will be played out till October 22 — the deadline for filing nominations — is almost on expected lines. A source in the CAB said that Ganguly will contest for the president's post only if there's an election. "He doesn't want to take any chance if two nominations are filed for the president's post. If there's no election, then he may sit back and let his elder brother Snehasish become the president. In that case, he would be the kingmaker," the source told ETV Bharat on the condition of anonymity.
The panels are also more or less decided. In case of an election, the panel from Ganguly's lobby could be Sourav Ganguly (president), Prabir Chakraborty (secretary), Debabrata Das (joint secretary), Snehasish Ganguly (vice-president) and Naresh Ojha (treasurer). Now, if Sourav Ganguly becomes president, there's another option that Snehasish may get the secretary's post and one of Prabir Chakraborty, Naresh Ojha and former CAB finance committee head Vivek Ruia will don the treasurer's mantle.
Read: T20 World Cup: Netherlands edge UAE by three wickets in a low-scoring thriller
However, Snehasish is not completely ruled out for the president's post. If there's no election and all are unanimous, Snehasish will become the president while others will choose themselves automatically. Last but not the least, Trinamool Congress' Biswa Majumdar may also throw his hat in the ring from the opposition, provided he gets the nod from Trinamool Congress supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. However, it is unlikely that the chief minister will drag her feet into this election given her party has already criticised the BCCI's move to not allow Ganguly from continuing in the president's post.
