Shashank Manohar, the person chiefly responsible for trying to reduce the influence wielded by the Big Three, has resigned from his post as ICC chairman after only eight months in office because of personal reasons.

Manohar was elected unopposed as the ICC’s first independent chairman – one not affiliated to any of its member boards – in May 2016 for a two-year term, and since then had led the effort to decentralise the power held by the BCCI, CA and ECB.

In February this year, the ICC had passed in principle a new constitution that undid much of the imbalance in power and finances the Big Three had attempted to create in 2014, but a final decision was to be taken at the ICC Board’s next round of meetings in April.

Manohar, however, will now not be the head of the ICC at those meetings.