Roger Binny was elected as president of the Karanataka State Cricket Association on Thurday, winning by 943 votes to the 111 that his competitor M.M Harish. This is the former India allrounder's third stint at the KSCA - he was a vice-president from 2007 to 2012 - and it will keep him in office until 2021-22.
Binny, 64, was part of the World Cup winning side in 1983. He played 99 games for India (27 Tests and 72 ODIs) scoring a total of 1459 runs and picking up 124 wickets. Former India captain Shanta Rangaswamy, who resigned from the BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee on Sunday, became the first woman to be elected into a managing committee in the KSCA.
The Supreme Court of India had ordered all state associations in India to conduct elections by October 4. Several of them have announced their results but the KSCA is one of a few which has chosen a former cricketer as its president after former captains Sourav Ganguly and Mohammad Azharuddin took charge in Bengal and Hyderabad respectively. Saurashtra too have a former player as its head - Jaydev Shah, who played over 100 first-class games. He is also the son of longtime cricket administrator Niranjan Shah.
This isn't the first time a cricketer will be running things in Karnataka. Anil Kumble was elected president of the state association in 2010. Additionally, this time around, KSCA also has a former umpire as its joint secretary - Shavir Tarapore.