Published: Sep 07, 2016, 11:55 AM (IST)
Edited: Sep 07, 2016, 12:08 PM (IST)
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may pull out the Indian cricket team from next year’s ICC Champions Trophy 2017, which will be played in England, due to their growing differences with the global cricket governing body. After being ignored for a seat in the ICC’s finance committee, the BCCI say they will contemplate on their actions going forward, which will be taken in the interest of the Indian cricket. Interestingly, the BCCI and ICC have been at loggerheads for some time now, and there have been some very serious differences between the two cricket governing bodies since Shashank Manohar jumped the ship. ALSO READ: BCCI unhappy with ICC’s decision to earmark USD 135 million for Champions Trophy 2017
Manohar was the BCCI president before becoming the ICC chairman, as he switched to the global governing body when the Indian Supreme Court increased pressure on the national cricket board for getting its house in order.
The BCCI, having being ignored for the ICC’s finance committee as well as a meeting of the body which took place a few days ago, is now exploring its options. The differences between the two bodies came forth when Manohar, after taking charge at ICC, discarded the Big Three proposal which promised a major share of revenues to the BCCI along with the Australian and English cricket boards.
According to the The Indian Express, Ajay Shirke, the BCCI secretary, has termed their exclusion from the ICC finance committee as ‘a humiliation’.
Shirke said, “These are the committees where all the important decisions are taken — finance, commerce and chief executives committee; India not having a representative (in those committees) is a humiliation for us. We will tell the ICC, ‘either you amend this or we will decide what to do to protect India’s cricket interests globally’. It could be anything. We may even not play the Champions Trophy. Better sense may prevail, and we may not reach that stage at all. But there are so many options.” ALSO READ: BCCI backed by SLC on two-tier Test Proposal
The sources close to the BCCI say it will be forced to think on ‘parallel lines’ if it continues to be ignored. “The problem with the ICC now is that it is acting like a dictator. Apart from the Big Three model that the ICC now wants to change, it is slowly trying to keep the BCCI at bay,” a BCCI official said on the condition of anonymity.
The official added, “Unfortunately, the BCCI is being deprived of a seat in the ICC finance committee. When 70 per cent of the ICC’s income comes from the BCCI, why should we not have a place in the finance committee? There’s no question of domination, but is the ICC trying to be a Robin Hood — robbing the rich and giving it to the poor?”
Another issue of dispute between the BCCI and ICC is the allocation of USD 135 million to England for organising the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, which is three-times higher compared to what the BCCI got for the ICC T20 World Cup 2016.
The ICC Champions Trophy 2017 will have only 15 matches over 19 days, compared to the 58 matches which India organised within 27 days of the ICC T20 World Cup 2016.
