After unceremonious BCCI exit, Sourav Ganguly set to contest CAB presidential polls

Ganguly Saturday confirmed that he will be contesting the upcoming presidential elections in the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), which was run by him for four years from 2015.

"The date for filing nominations is Oct 22. I will contest the elections," said Ganguly. 

Ganguly Thursday broke his silence on the controversy over his unceremonious BCCI exit and said, "You can’t play forever. You can’t be an administrator forever, but it’s been fun doing both and seeing both sides of the coin. I will go for bigger things in future."

"I was a cricketers' administrator. Yes, you had to make decisions because there’s so much cricket happening, there’s so much money around. There’s women’s cricket, there’s domestic cricket. Yes, you had to take calls at times as an individual," he added.

Some reports claimed Ganguly was offered the chairman's position in the hugely popular, cash-rich domestic T20 tournament, Indian Premier League (IPL) but he "politely declined" the offer.

The cricket great, who shaped Team India as a captain, wanted to continue as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president, reports said.

Reports also said former BCCI president and IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK)'s owner N Srinivasan was one among those who slammed Ganguly as a board president accusing him of "non-performance" and alleged that he had represented brands that were the direct rivals of the board's sponsors.

Ganguly's decisions on former skipper Virat Kohli (his stepping down as T20 captain and each other's contradictory remarks on the issue) also earned him the wrath of many in cricketing circles and among Kohli fans.