Anurag Thakur elected president of BCCI

Anurag Thakur has been unanimously elected president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at a special meeting in Mumbai. Thakur who is also a ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of parliament, becomes the youngest president of the board in independent India at the age of 41.

Thakur, who was formerly the BCCI secretary, was the only nominee for the post after all six members of the east zone proposed his name. He will serve as president until September 2017 and also represent the BCCI on the International Cricket Council (ICC) executive board and the Asian Cricket Council.

Thakur who becomes the 34th president of the BCCI succeeds Shashank Manohar who had stepped down as president a week ago, so that he would be eligible to be elected as the new ICC chairman. He had held the secretary post since 2011 and was tipped to be the automatic choice to replace Manohar.

Thakur becomes only the second president to have played first class cricket in India. He had represented Himachal Pradesh in a solitary match in the 2010-2011 season. Thakur will have his hands full with the BCCI coming under immense scrutiny over a series of corruption and match-fixing scandals in the Indian Premier League.