Ever since the Shashank Manohar stepped down as BCCI president last week, a number of names have popped up in terms of being the next chief of India cricket's governing body. According to a report in TOI, the current secretary of BCCI, Anurag Thakur is set to replace Manohar at the helm on May 22.

Manohar was recently elected as the chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and as per the Lodha Panel recommendations, no employee of BCCI can hold two posts at the same time in two different bodies. Therefore, Manohar emptied the chair of the president before being elected as the ICC chairman.

Reports also suggest that Thakur has secured the backing of the East Zone representatives and that will give him the edge over other names, who are being considered for the post as well.

This time, it is East Zone's turn to nominate a name for the post of the president of BCCI. East Zone representatives are also making efforts so that they can avoid an election and Thakur gets elected unanimously.

Many of the BCCI units are not in favour of appointing Thakur as the president. Surprisingly, these units were the ones who supported Thakur for his secretary post.

If Thakur takes over the post of president of BCCI from Manohar, Ajay Shirke is likely to be the next secretary.

The name of the former India captain Sourav Ganguly also came up as a possible candidate for the next BCCI president. However, Ganguly, currently the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), ruled himself out of the running last week, saying he does not meet the eligibility criteria.