Who Is Mithun Manhas? MS Dhoni & Virat Kohli's Former Teammate Emerges As Frontrunner To Become New BCCI President

Mithun Manhas, the former captain of Delhi, is poised to become the first Indian cricketer without a cap to lead the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The 45-year-old unexpectedly became the front-runner to assume the position of board president on Saturday. Following an intense meeting between the BCCI administrators in New Delhi, the development came to light.

STORY | Mithun Manhas in fray for BCCI president as meeting held in Delhi to find candidates for key posts

Former Delhi skipper Mithun Manhas has emerged as the frontrunner to take over as the new BCCI president even as some seasoned BCCI administrators and key decision makers… pic.twitter.com/jslgmeFFby

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 20, 2025

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Nominations are due on Sunday, and the selections will take place on September 28. But in the past five years, the BCCI president has consistently been chosen without any opposition. Additionally, the Indian board has been eager to have a former cricket player lead the team in recent years, similar to Roger Binny and Sourav Ganguly.

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Who is Mithun Manhas?

Manhas was was a middle order batsman who ended up in the wrong era after making his professional debut in the 1997–98 season. Despite becoming one of the recognised face in domestic cricket, Manhas was unable to find a place in the Indian team due to presence of starwalts like Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, and Sourav Ganguly.

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However in the Delhi cricket circuit he was a source of inspiration . Manhas led the team when star players like Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag were primarily away on national team duty. In fact, during his early years in domestic cricket, Virat Kohli played under his leadership.

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Manhas had his best season in 2007–08, leading Delhi to a Ranji Trophy victory and ending their protracted championship drought. Manhas scored 921 runs at 57.56 during that season, despite Gambhir leading the team in the semifinal and final. The former batter, who was born in Jammu but later relocated to the capital city in pursuit of cricketing opportunities, made his homecoming when he moved from Delhi to Jammu and Kashmir in 2015 for the upcoming Ranji Trophy season.

In all, Manhas participated in 157 first-class games, scoring 9714 runs at an average of over 45 and hitting 27 hundreds. The seventh-highest number in history, 8554 runs, were scored in 206 Ranji Trophy innings. In addition, he has participated in 91 T20 matches for Delhi, scoring 1170 runs, and 130 List A games, scoring 4126 runs.