CEC appoints surprising candidates to represent Associates as Palani, Bhatnagar, Klair are elected to the committee.
Palani, Bhatnagar, Klair elected to CEC as Associates pick newcomers.
Three newcomers were elected to the Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC), the powerful decision-making body of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in a surprise election for Associate Member representatives.
The more favoured incumbents, Sumod Damodar (Botswana) and Sankar Renganathan (Sierra Leone), were defeated by Frenchman Gurumurthy Palani, Hong Kong’s Anurag Bhatnagar, and Canadian candidate Gurdeep Klair.
The African nation’s seasoned administrator, Damodar, who was the lone incumbent in the race, declared, “My commitment to cricket will continue as the game is bigger than all else.” With 16 votes, he came in fourth place. The 45-member electoral college gave Klair 21 votes, compared to 28 for Palani and 28 for Bhatnagar. Each of the three elected officials will serve a two-year term.
Bhatnagar told that he saw a huge untapped potential in the Associate countries and he will work towards unlocking the talent. “I am grateful to my home board, Cricket Hong Kong, China, for putting forward my nomination and to all those that supported my candidature. Having now been elected to the CEC as an Associate Member Representative, I carry the responsibility along with my colleagues to address the challenges and work on solutions for the continued development of cricket in all Associate Member countries and territories.
“I look forward to facilitating increased interaction and communication between all stakeholders, transcending regional and individual agendas. Continuous growth is the only solution for long term sustainability of this great sport in the non-traditional cricketing countries. There is a huge, barely tapped pool in the 96 countries that are Associate Members, with immense potential, both talent wise and financially, which I believe is straining to be unlocked.
“I am excited to be afforded the opportunity to support the ICC Board and Management in their ongoing endeavour in this direction,” the Hong Kong representative told