Shashank Manohar quits as BCCI chief ahead of ICC election

NEW DELHI: Shashank Manohar resigned as President of the powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday eyeing a second term as chief of the sport's global governing body.

A respected administrator with a clean image, Manohar has been the most powerful man in cricket, heading the world's richest cricket board as well as being chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

"He has also resigned as the BCCI representative on the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Asian Cricket Council," board secretary Anurag Thakur said in a statement.

Under reforms Manohar himself initiated within the ICC, the next chairman, to be elected later this month, must be an independent candidate with no formal links to any other country.

Manohar was also instrumental in overturning the constitutional changes made in 2014 that gave India, England and Australia almost total control of the cricket's administration.

As BCCI president, Manohar brought significant transparency into the functioning of a board traditionally perceived as an efficient but opaque body, which has often incurred the wrath of India's top court.

Thakur confirmed Manohar has filed his application for the ICC's top post and said the BCCI would soon elect its next president.

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