Pawar wins Asian support for ICC prez job

Sharad Pawar, president of The Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), has found support from the other three Asian Test playing countries to succeed South Africa's Percy Sonn as the chief of the International Cricket Council.

"Yes, it has been decided that Pawar will be a candidate to take over as the new ICC president once Percy Sonn's two-year term is over. Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are in favour of Pawar and we hope to win the support of the West Indies too," Niranjan Shah, secretary of BCCI, said from Rajkot.

"We have to move fast as the nomination needs to be sent to the ICC by January 1, 2007 and A C Muthiah (former BCCI chief) is the head of the ICC's nomination committee...The issue will be discussed at the board's working committee meeting here on Saturday," Shah said.

Voting on the nominations will take place at the ICC's annual meeting in London in July, 2007.

The move to nominate the Maratha satrap to the top administrative post of the ICC was taken when he hosted a dinner for the representatives of the four World Cup co-hosts at his residence in Delhi on December 11 to finalise plans for the mega event.

According to sources, support from ICC's associate members would also be crucial for Pawar.