Mithun Manhas elected new BCCI president, Amita Sharma to head women’s selection panel
Mumbai(PTI): Former Delhi captain Mithun Manhas was on Sunday elected president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) here.
Manhas, 45, became the 37th president of the Board, as he succeeded Roger Binny who resigned last month after turning 70.
The former all-rounder, who featured in 157 First-Class, 130 List A and 55 IPL matches between 1997-98 and 2016-17, had emerged as the consensus choice following an informal meeting of the Board’s power brokers in New Delhi earlier this month.
Manhas has an impressive tally of 9714 first class runs with 27 centuries to go with 4126 runs in List A matches.
The AGM confirmed a few other key appointments. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia and IPL Governing Council chairman Arun Dhumal retained their posts, while Karnataka State Cricket Association chief and former India cricketer Raghuram Bhat was elected treasurer.
Prabhtej Bhatia moved from treasurer to joint secretary, replacing Rohan Gauns Desai, and Saurashtra Cricket Association President Jaydev Shah made an Apex Council member in place of Dilip Vengsarkar.
Amita Sharma was named chairperson of the women’s selection panel, replacing Neetu David. The former India fast bowler, who played 116 ODIs, will be joined by Shyama Dey, Jaya Sharma and Sravanthi Naidu. Their tenure will begin after the women’s World Cup being held in India and Sri Lanka from September 30 to November 2.
Former India internationals RP Singh and Pragyan Ojha were inducted into the men’s selection panel, while ex-Tamil Nadu batter S Sharath returned to the junior selection committee.
Welcoming Manhas’ election, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh, attending the AGM as Punjab Cricket Association’s representative, said a cricketer at the helm of affairs of the Board was a positive step.
"When a cricketer heads a cricket body, his experience and other qualities help. It’s a good decision and it’s been happening for the last three terms which is a great thing for the cricketers as well for him to give something back to the game," he said.
"The BCCI has started this and there cannot be anything greater for any cricketer that he can also give something back. I’ve played a lot of cricket with Mithun since U19 days and I am very happy for him."
Harbhajan also expressed hope that Manhas would focus on strengthening infrastructure across the country.
"I hope that those things which he (perhaps) didn’t get in terms of facilities as a cricketer or could not get to that point (in career), from whatever he has learnt so far in his life, he does such a job that no young cricketer is left behind due to lack of infrastructure,” he said.
"A lot of development is taking place across the country if we talk about it. New grounds are coming up in new places and cricket is going to smaller venues. The credit goes to the BCCI and I hope Mithun will carry forward the same legacy and does a great job.”
Harbhajan also urged the BCCI to contribute towards relief work in flood-hit Punjab and other north Indian states.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
