The rise and fall of sacked BCCI President Anurag Thakur

Anurag Thakur had to vacate his BCCI chiefs seat yesterdayAt the time of writing Anurag Thakurrsquos Twitter profile introduced him as 3rd Term Member of Parliament LS President BCCI Chairman Parliamentary Committee on IT Member Public Accounts Committee The Apex court on Monday though removed him as the BCCI chiefFor someone who held this post for a period of 226 days it was a short yet eventful period both for the man and the organisation Thakur was elected the unopposed head on May 22 last year under normal circumstances his term was to end in September this year However since BCCI failed to implement the Supreme Court July 18 2016 orders which asked them set their house in order it was inevitable that the man at the helm would have to bear the brunt as far as his career as a cricket administrator is concernedEven before he took charge as board president his biggest challenge was how he would deal with Justice Lodha committeersquos verdict on BCCIrsquos functioning Thakur however during his first presser as BCCI chief termed it as an opportunityNow that he is no longer in office his stay can be divided into three phasesTHE GOODBecoming BCCI president at just 41 was a huge achievement for Thakur It was largely because of his 16years of good work as an administrator at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association As a BCCI president too he initially made all the right noises saying that he was all for the better governance of the game in the country In the end though it looked more words and less actionPromoting Test cricket is another good thing he did during his tenure ndash be it taking Test cricket to secondtier cities to tackle the issue of dwindling attendance at the traditional Test centres or doubling the player matchfee for playing a Test as an incentive to promote the format He also announced the all the international venues will have numbered seats for better spectator experienceTHE BADThe problem under his administration like some of his recent predecessors was always going to be a willingness to change BCCIrsquos working style From July 18 2016 till the morning of January 2 2017 there were numerous instances when the board despite many warnings by the Apex court failed to adhere to its recommendationsInfact even before he became president in February last year Thakurrsquos statement reflected resistance towards change On once being asked about BCCIrsquos slow response to implement Lodha committeersquos recommendation he had remarked We need to understand it is not a onepage report It is a detailed report which will have a lot of consequences on the working and the functioning of the BCCI A committee has taken close to 12 months to come up with it We are taking close to two months to discuss debate and after deliberations come to a consensus to implement that reportrdquoTHE UGLYWhile Thakur was the BCCIrsquos face in the legal battle it wasnrsquot his fault alone that the court orders werenrsquot adhered to as various state cricket associations too werenrsquot very keen to implement them Who knows what future holds for Thakur but the biggest mistake he is accused of having committed is perjury The court had earlier said that Thakur could be guilty of perjury after he in an affidavit had denied that he sought a letter from the ICC stating that the Lodha Committees recommendation to have a member of the Comptroller and Auditor Generals office on the apex council of the BCCI amounted to government interference in the board Thakurs request had been revealed by ICC chief executive David Richardson in an interview to an Indian TV channel