Anurag Thakur takes over as BCCI president

Anurag Thakur has been unanimously elected the BCCI president at the board's special general meeting in Mumbai on Sunday. Thakur, 41, and formerly the BCCI secretary, was the only nominee for the post; he will serve as president until September 2017. He will also represent the BCCI on the ICC executive board and the Asian Cricket Council.

Thakur is the 34th president of the BCCI and after taking office he nominated Ajay Shirke, the Maharashtra Cricket Association president, as his successor as secretary. Shirke will represent the BCCI at the chief executives committee meetings of the ICC. He had previously served as BCCI treasurer, resigning the post in 2013 because he was unhappy with the board's response to the IPL corruption scandal.

Thakur succeeded Shashank Manohar, who had stepped down as president a week ago so that he would be eligible to be elected the ICC's first independent chairman. He had held the post of BCCI secretary during Manohar's tenure and was seen to be the automatic choice to replace Manohar, given the support he gained since he was appointed joint secretary in September 2011.

As per the BCCI constitution, its president is elected by a rotational system where each of the five zones is given the chance to put forward candidates at the special general meeting. It was the East zone's turn and Thakur was formally endorsed by all its six units - Cricket Association of Bengal, National Cricket Club, Odisha Cricket Association, Tripura Cricket Association, Assam Cricket Association and Jharkhand Cricket Association.

Thakur, one of the youngest BCCI presidents, is also a politician and is the BJP member of parliament from Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur district. The son of the two-time former Himachal Pradesh chief minister, Prem Kumar Dhumal, Thakur is also the head of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association.