Sunil Gavaskar has stepped down from his post as chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee.

The former India batsman offered his resignation yesterday after chairing the annual committee meeting in Dubai last week, citing his commitments in the media as a major reason for his decision to leave his job after eight years.

"I have thoroughly enjoyed the eight years I have held the role, which is an honorary position, and it has been extremely fulfilling to be able to give back to the game through that role," Gavaskar said in a statement released by the ICC.

"However, with more and more cricket being played it has become clear that it is not possible for me to do justice to two jobs, the chairmanship of the ICC Cricket Committee and my media commitments.

"As an example of that, I had to leave my professional commitments as a commentator on the Indian Premier League matches in order to come and chair this year's meeting in Dubai.

"I envisaged the potential for this sort of issue two years ago and intimated then that I was not able to continue in the role, but when I was asked to do so I was honoured to be re-elected.

"Now, however, it is clear I cannot combine both roles and therefore I am relinquishing the chair of the ICC Cricket Committee."

Gavaskar's decision to step down was not unexpected following an ICC Board meeting in March where his potential conflict of interests as a committee member and media commentator was discussed.

The 58-year-old former India captain was summoned by then ICC chief executive officer Malcolm Speed to a meeting at the governing body's headquarters in Dubai to further discuss the matter.

Gavaskar, a regular television commentator, had described England and Australia as "dinosaurs still trying to voice their prejudiced opinions in the media" in one of his syndicated newspaper columns earlier this year.

He was also critical of match referee Mike Procter following January's controversial Sydney Test when the South African handed India's Harbhajan Singh a three-Test ban for alleged racial abuse of Andrew Symonds, which was later overturned on appeal.

Following the meeting with Speed it was agreed that Gavaskar, the first player to reach 10,000 Test runs, would chair this month's two-day meeting before advising the committee of his future.

His decision to quit his post, effectively putting his media career ahead of his position with the ICC, comes as a further blow to the governing body in the wake of Speed's decision to prematurely step down from his post last month.

Speed revealed a "fundamental breakdown" in his relationship with the rest of the ICC board had prompted his resignation ahead of his scheduled departure at this summer's ICC Annual Conference in June.

Acting chief executive David Richardson was left to reflect on the role Gavaskar had played in over a decade with the ICC.

"We are indebted to the work Sunil has put into his role as chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee," Richardson said.

"He has brought his vast experience of the game to bear, not only over the eight years of his chairmanship but also the six years prior to that, when he was a delegate on the same committee.

"Having someone of Sunil's stature involved has to be of benefit to the game and given the ICC's lengthy relationship with him, we hope we can still utilise his knowledge in some other capacity in the future."

The ICC revealed in a statement today that the details of the selection of Gavaskar's successor would be revealed "in due course", however former Australian Test captain Mark Taylor spoke passionately during the committee meeting for former players to be represented on its panel.

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