What’s the story?
The Indian team might not be a confirmed participant in the upcoming Champions Trophy due to the long-standing differences between the ICC and the BCCI. India has a right to exercise the option of pulling out of the Champions Trophy to take the legal course if ICC doesn’t go back to its Big Three proposal.
“BCCI reserves its rights to take all necessary decisions to exercise the rights under the Members Participation Agreement (MPA),” a source close to the BCCI said.
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In case you didn’t know…
The Big Three (refers to the three big cricket boards in the world: India, Australia and England) proposal guarantees the BCCI, along with the England and Australian cricket board, a major share of the global revenues and provides them the power to have a larger voice in administrative actions.
The Indian team has won the Champions Trophy twice: once as joint-winner in 2002, and the last time under the captaincy of MS Dhoni in 2013.
The heart of the matter
In a two-hour SGM (Special General Meeting), the top BCCI officials decided to oppose the ICC’s new constitution that aims at limiting India’s share of money as well as power.
The officials agreed that the ICC is breaching the contract, despite the BCCI honouring all bilateral commitments on Future Tours Programme (FTP). The SCM also believed that another hindrance to them is the ICC chairman Shashank Manohar, who wants an equal distribution of resources to all the other boards.
The meeting was attended by the acting president, CK Khanna, Joint Secretary Amitabh Chaudhary and Treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry. BCCI’s CEO, Rahul Johri, was also present in the discussion.
India already has the backing of Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, and needs only 1/3rd of the members to say yes to the continuation of the Big Three model.
What’s next?
The Champions Trophy begins on June 1 in England, with the Indian team scheduled to play their first game against Pakistan on the 4th of June. While the IPL is currently underway, the BCCI and ICC have around a month and a half to sort the mess between them.
Author’s Take
The ongoing tussle between BCCI and Shashank Manohar doesn’t seem to be ending quickly. Future proceedings of the same will be followed closely because of India, a cricketing superpower, being the epicentre of the series of events. If India does indeed pull out, it will be a major blow to world cricket.
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