Listing the only 4 Indian players who became BCCI president
At 47, Sourav Ganguly will start his office as the new BCCI president from October 23. Ganguly has expressed his desire to focus more on first-class cricketers along with other important matters.
Sourav Ganguly became only the second cricketer in Indian history to complete a rare double of playing for India and becoming the President of BCCI. However, two more cricketers achieved this feat but were appointed for the post of president for an interim term only.
Here's the list of Indian cricketers who went on to become BCCI president.
#1 Maharajkumar of Vizianagram
Vijay Ananda Gajapathi Raju a.k.a ‘Vizzy’ as he was better known, served as the BCCI president from 1954 to 1956.
Considered to be one of the worst captains to have led India ever, Vizzy dictated the cricketing arena due to his immense wealth. In 1932, he was the chief financier that helped India tour England and declared himself as the vice-captain. Although he withdrew on health grounds, he returned as the captain of the second side to undertake a Test tour of England. In the three Test matches, he scored only 33 runs at a disastrous average of 8.25. He played 47 first-class games, scoring 1228 runs at 18.60 with five fifties.
Such was his influence of wealth that he captained the likes of Lala Amarnath, C.K. Nayudu, Syed Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Merchant. He once asked Mushtaq Ali to run-out Vijay Merchant during the second Test match at Manchester – both Ali and Merchant ended up having a record 203-run opening stand – and even gave Baqa Jilani a Test cap, only because he had insulted Nayudu at breakfast. He would gift the opposition bowlers gold watches, etc. if they agreed to bowl full-tosses and simple deliveries at him.
However, during his tenure as BCCI president, he brought back Lala Amarnath into the India team as captain, got C.K. Nayudu to play for Uttar Pradesh at the age of 61. He even played a huge role in getting Kanpur’s Green Park a Test status. He remains the only cricketer to be knighted during his playing career, on India's tour of England in 1936.
Also see – World Test Championship points table