Who is Mithun Manhas? Dhoni’s ex-CSK mate, former Ranji captain who led Virat Kohli, rises in race for BCCI president

Mithun Manhas is set to become the first uncapped cricketer of India to head the BCCI

Former Delhi captain Mithun Manhas is all set to become the first uncapped cricketer of India to head the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). In a shock twist on Saturday, the 45-year-old emerged as the frontrunner to take over the role of board president. The development emerged after a long and intense meeting between the BCCI administrators in New Delhi.

Mithun Manhas (right) has emerged as the frontrunner to take over as the new BCCI president

The final date for submitting nominations is Sunday, and the selections are slated for September 28. However, over the last five years, the BCCI president has always been selected unopposed. Moreover, in recent years, the Indian board has been keen on having a former cricketer at the helm, like predecessors Sourav Ganguly and Roger Binny.

Who is Mithun Manhas?

Having made his professional debut in the 1997/98 season, Manhas was among the many middle-order batters who found themselves in the wrong era. In a period dominated by the likes of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, and Sourav Ganguly, Manhas failed to crack into the Indian team despite growing into a domestic powerhouse.

The right-handed batter, however, was an inspirational figure in the Delhi dressing room. With big-name players like Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir mostly away on national-team duty, it was Manhas who led the team for most of the new millennium. In fact, the legendary Virat Kohli too played under his captaincy during his formative years in domestic cricket.

Manhas' most impressive season came in 2007/08, when he was at the helm as Delhi ended their long championship drought with a Ranji Trophy win. Although Gambhir led the side in the semifinal and the final, Manhas scored 921 runs at 57.56 in that season. In 2015, he switched from Delhi to Jammu and Kashmir for the then-impending Ranji Trophy season, and it marked his homecoming as the former batter was born in Jammu, but later moved to the capital city in search of cricketing opportunities.

Overall, Manhas played 157 first-class matches, amassing 9714 runs, averaging over 45 with 27 hundreds. Of those, 8554 runs came in 206 Ranji Trophy innings, the seventh-most in history. He has also played 130 List A matches, scoring 4126 runs, and 91 T20 matches, scoring 1170 runs for Delhi.

Manhas has also represented three franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He started his career in the erstwhile Delhi Daredevils, where he played between 2008 and 2010, before moving to the now-defunct Pune Warriors between 2011 and 2013. He eventually played under MS Dhoni in the Chennai Super Kings in 2014. In 55 appearances in the league across seven seasons, he scored 514 runs at 22.34.

In 2017, he returned to the IPL as the assistant coach of Punjab before being picked as the batting consultant of the Bangladesh Under-19 team the same year. After two years in that role, he joined RCB as their assistant coach and currently serves in that same position for the Gujarat Titans.

Manhas also has administrative experience, having served as director of cricket operations with the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA).