New ICC Chief Executive Committee elected on Day 1 of ICC Annual Conference

The elections for the Associate Member representatives on the Chief Executives’ Comittee have given a surprise to all, with three newcomers earning seats on the influential decision-making of the International Cricket Council (ICC). On the opening day of the annual conference, it was a sight to watch out for regarding the chief executive committee.

Gurumurthy Palani of France, Hong Kong’s Anurag Bhatnagar, and Gurdeep Klair of Canada were elected ahead of the fancied incumbents, Sumod Damodar and Sankar Renganathan. It was a huge surprise in the entire decision of the annual conference as Damodar promised his commitment to the game to keep growing despite the new decision.

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‘My commitment to cricket will continue as the game is bigger than all else.’ Damodar, who is a veteran administrator from the African nation and the only incumbent in the fray, expressed in the discussion. He ended in the fourth position with 16 votes, while Palani and Bhatnagar got 28 votes each. Klair received 21 votes from the 45-member electoral college, with all the members having a tenure of two years.

New ICC Chief Executive Committee elected at the ICC annual conference

The role of the CEC is to promote and develop the game worldwide, besides governing and regulating the sport at the international level. It’s a highly coveted position for the Associated Chiefs and is seen as the stepping stone to get onto the ICC board, where the real power lies in global cricket.

Ranganathan came as a wildcard, and he has also been well-known as an outspoken critic of the USA cricket team, which is now facing suspension. The votes were made up from the 40 associate members and five regional representatives, which are America, Asia, Europe, East Asia-Pacific, and Africa. Under the rules of the ICC, the candidates had to be a representative of the current or past ICC director or an Associate member.

These newly elected members will have a two-year contract as they will also be part of the Associate member committee and will help to govern and regulate the Associate level. The election took place before the new chief executive, Sanjog Gupta, and his Indian counterpart, Jay Shah, along with some other members.