Judges ordered the dismissal Monday of the Indian cricket board's president over the failure to enact a series of recommended reforms, plunging the game's most powerful body into turmoil. In a shock ruling, a panel of Supreme Court judges said Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Anurag Thakur and its number two Ajay Shirke must stand down immediately.

Thakur said he would respect the decision, while voicing bitterness at the court for siding with a retired judge who had been demanding the shake-up in the BCCI's governance.

"The Supreme Court passes an order directing the BCCI president and secretary to desist from any board functions from hereon," said the ruling.

The order comes after judges slapped restrictions on the BCCI's accounts last year over its failure to implement a series of reforms recommended by a panel headed by a former top judge, Rajendra Mal Lodha. Cricket's massive popularity in India has helped the BCCI become by far the wealthiest of all of the sport's national boards, netting massive money from sponsorship and TV deals.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017