Dubai: A boycott of the Champions Trophy by the Indian team looms large following the snubbing that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) received during the International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting held here from Monday. India, who are the defending champions of the Champions Trophy, are likely to exercise the Members Participation Agreement (MPA), that gives them the right to pull out of the event being held from June 1 in England. It is understood that the BCCI may even take legal recourse to safeguard India’s interests.
The ICC officially announced the decisions of their meeting, which has resulted in BCCI, the richest cricket board, being routed in voting for a revised financial model.
In addition, agreement on a new constitution to be put before the ICC Full Council has also been reached much to the disagreement of the BCCI.
Though India is the biggest revenue earner for the ICC events, the decisions have resulted in huge financial loss to them as their revenue share will be down to half from $570million (Dh2 billion). As per ICC’s announcement, BCCI will receive $293m across the eight year cycle, ECB $143m, Zimbabwe Cricket $94m and the remaining seven Full Members $132m each. Associate Members will receive funding of $280m. This model was passed 13 votes to one.
A revised constitution was also approved by 12 votes to two with India being support only by Sri Lanka.
According to information from India, BCCI’s acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary, who had attended the ICC’s board meeting here on behalf of India, will now take the ICC decisions to the BCCI members after calling for a Special General Meeting (SGM) to decide on the next step of action.
The mood in the BCCI is understood to make other member nations understand that humiliating India, which is the biggest contributor to the ICC earnings, is not the right way forward.
The first decision of the BCCI could be a pull out from the Champions Trophy. It is also understood that a large number of sponsors. who are mainly from India, are likely to back BCCI in whatever decision the SGM will be taking soon. Even the official broadcasters Star are upset with the developments as a Champions Trophy without India could result in a huge dip in TV revenue and viewership.
Shashank Manohar |
However, the ICC independent chairman Shashank Manohar, who pushed for cricket administration reforms, after the ICC meeting remarked: “This is another step forward for world cricket and I look forward to concluding the work at the Annual Conference. I am confident we can provide a strong foundation for the sport to grow and improve globally in the future through the adoption of the revised financial model and governance structure.”
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Cricket Board were delighted at the ICC Board considering an update following the ICC delegation to the Pakistan Super Leauge (PSL) final in Lahore as part of its commitment to support the return of international bilateral cricket to Pakistan — as long as it is safe for players, officials, media and fans. The feasibility of further matches in Pakistan involving a World XI is also now being considered from a security and budget perspective.
The PSL organisers are keen to stage more league matches in Pakistan next year by reducing the number of matches in the UAE.
The other constitutional changes proposed include: the potential to include removal of the Affiliate level of Membership so there will be only two categories such as Full Member and Associate Member, the introduction of an independent female director and equal weight of votes for all Board Members regardless of Membership status.
