New Zealander Alan Isaac has replaced India’s Sharad Pawar as  the eighth president of the International Cricket Council (ICC)  for a two-year term, after which the role will lose its power.

 The former New Zealand Cricket chairman’s appointment came as the ICC also confirmed the expected rise of former South Africa wicketkeeper David Richardson was confirmed as the new ICC chief executive at the end of compatriot Haroon Lorgat’s four-year term.

“I believe that the challenges ahead are no less daunting than those we have faced in the last two years if we are to maintain the vibrancy and viability of the three formats of the sport,” Isaac said in a statement at the ICC conference in Kuala Lumpur.

“I look forward to serving the game with honesty and integrity and to the best of my ability. I look forward to handing on the guardianship of the sport with the game enjoying even greater health.”

Isaac takes over at a time when the ICC is believed to be struggling to match the financial power of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The ICC failed to secure the use of universal umpire reviews earlier this week and the BCCI has been steadfast in its opposition to the technology.

At the annual conference, the ICC agreed to create the post of an ICC chairman, who would take over the lead role on the board, remove the role of ICC vice-president and make the president’s role “ceremonial in nature with a term of only one year.”  The ICC board will select a chairman in 2014 with a two-year term.