The powerful and wealthy Indian Cricket Board on Sunday elected its new president and former player and defender Devajit Saikia is the only person to be nominated for the top job.
“Devajit Saikia has been duly announced as Secretary of BCCI,” the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said in a statement.
Saikia, 55, succeeds Jay Shah, who left his position to become president of the International Cricket Council (ICC), the global governing body.
Businessman and state cricket director Prabhtej Singh Bhatia has been appointed treasurer of BCCI, the board added.
Shah’s departure last month to become ICC chief led to the appointment of Saikia, who was already on the BCCI board, as interim secretary.
Saikia, a little-known figure among fans after his modest football career, has close ties with India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
Saikia began his career in administration by working as General Secretary of the North-Eastern Assam Cricket Club under the leadership of Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Sarma is now the chief minister of Assam for the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has governed India at the national level since 2014 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Both Saikia and Sarma later served in the Assam State Cricket Association.
When Sarma was chosen to lead the state, he appointed Saikia as his Solicitor General – the government’s chief legal adviser.
Saikia was a wicket-keeper and batsman with modest returns in first-class cricket where he played four matches for his home state Assam, scoring just 53 runs.