Meet the BCCI's new office bearers

Among the five newly elected office bearers who are set to take over their positions in the BCCI, Sourav Ganguly is the only one who needs no introduction. The other four, from different state associations, with varying backgrounds, are familiar with cricket administration but the fans might not be familiar with them. So, here's an introduction.

The youngest office bearer in the new BCCI administration by a distance, 31-year-old Jay Shah has been with the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) since 2009 and is Indian home minister Amit Shah's son. Jay, an engineer, was elected as an executive board member in the Central Board of Cricket, Ahmedabad, in May 2009, and he took over as the joint-secretary of the GCA in September 2013.

Ahmedabad's Sardar Patel Stadium, host to IPL and international matches, has been under renovation since 2015 and is expected, when complete, to be the biggest stadium in India.

Elected president of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) last month, Arun Singh Dhumal is also the younger brother of former BCCI president Anurag Thakur, the current Indian minister of state for finance and corporate affairs.

Dhumal, 44, brings with him three years of administrative experience at the HPCA, having served as the vice-president from 2012 to 2015, during Thakur's stint as president, before he had to step down because of the Supreme Court of India's intervention following the Lodha Committee's recommendations on administrative reform. Dhumal then led the three-member ad-hoc committee that was set up to lead the HPCA until the association adopted a new constitution in line with the Lodha reforms.

As the HPCA's vice-president, Dhumal oversaw the association's day-to-day cricketing operations and the development of the stadium in Dharamsala, which started hosting international matches in January 2013. Dhumal has also represented HPCA at BCCI meetings in the past.

Jayesh George has the most varied experience among the new BCCI office bearers. At the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA), he has held the posts of joint-secretary, treasurer, secretary and, most recently, president after the state elections last month.

George started as a wicketkeeper-batsman for Swanton Cricket Club in Ernakulam, where former India quick Tinu Yohannan also played, and became part of the KCA as a district representative in 2005. He was then an office bearer from 2013 to 2018 in three different capacities: joint-secretary, secretary and treasurer.

He has also been the manager of India A teams on overseas tours of Australia and New Zealand recently. At 50, he is the oldest of the BCCI's five office bearers.

Mahim Verma first aspired to be a professional cricketer but an accident in his youth forced him to turn to cricket administration to stay in the sport.

His father, PC Verma, was the secretary of the Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU), and Mahim took over as the joint-secretary in 2009. He held that position for 10 years until last month, when he was elected as the secretary unopposed, only weeks after the association got BCCI affiliation. Verma, 45, now hopes to bring more international cricket and IPL games to Uttarakhand.

"It is like a dream come true, a few weeks ago we were running around to get BCCI affiliation for CAU," Verma told the Times of India last week. "But now they have rewarded Uttarakhand cricket in a big way by appointing me as the vice-president of BCCI."