Online
\nNew Delhi
\nThe prospect of India pulling out of this year\u2019s Champions Trophy loomed large on Wednesday after the Indian cricket board (BCCI) was left isolated in its opposition to proposed reforms to the way the game is run globally.
\nThe BCCI was routed 1-9 in a vote of all member boards of the International Cricket Council (ICC) on a revamped financial model and 2-8 on a new governance structure. The ICC votes decisively rejected the Big Three structure that gave India special status and would leave it as just another member board of the game\u2019s parent body.
\nIn the financial model that was passed, BCCI\u2019s share of ICC revenue from 2015 to 2023 would be only $290 million, barely half of the $570 million the Indian board wanted.
\nThe old guard feels that the only option left for India is to invoke the Members Participation Agreement (MPA) and pull out of the international cricket bilateral cycle, or to fall in line with the new world order. However, this may not find favour with the SC-appointed panel of administrators.
\nICC independent chairman Shashank Manohar the man – pushing for cricket administration reforms – had initially offered a compromise formula of an additional $100 million, which would push the BCCI\u2019s share to almost $400 million. BCCI rejected this with a counter-offer under which it would still get its $570 million but no other full member\u2019s share would be reduced.
\nHowever, Manohar called for a vote on the $290m offer, not on the compromise formula that was being spoken about, and the result left the BCCI cutting a lonely figure.
\nThe state units which form the old guard at the BCCI have now decided to call for a special general meeting at the earliest – a 14-day notice has to be given – to take a call on what should be India\u2019s next move. The Indian board hasn\u2019t announced its team for the ICC Champions Trophy yet -the deadline to do so elapsed on April 25.
\nVinod Rai, the chairman of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) which is running the affairs of BCCI, was disappointed with the snub and said he would allow BCCI members to call for an SGM to take the next step.
\n\u201cWe\u2019d kept the CoA meeting after the BCCI SGM in Mumbai before the ICC meeting in Dubai. Amitabh Choudhary had attended that meeting while BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary refused to come. I asked Amitabh about the mandate given to him by the SGM and he told us that he has to assess the situation,\u201d Rai told TOI.
\n\u201cUntil yesterday, the idea of pulling out of the Champions Trophy wasn\u2019t such a realistic one. But 24 hours is a long time. Going by what happened today, the ICC has clearly and abrasively breached the contract that it has signed with the BCCI, which is the MPA,\u201d said a senior cricket administrator.
\n\u201cLet India not play this tournament as a protest and then let\u2019s see how many ICC members still like the idea of going ahead with the policy changes. Someone has to call their bluff,\u201d he added.
\nHowever, the apex court\u2019s January 30 order clearly states that the authority to proceed legally on matters involving BCCI rests with the CoA, which has been appointed by the court itself. If the state units of the BCCI have to take a call, they will be in a position to do so only if the CoA is on the same page as them.
\n\u201cThe ball is in the court of Vinod Rai. He\u2019s the man who drew the attention to the massive loss that the country suffered because of the 2G Spectrum scam. He knows his numbers. He will be the first one to know what kind of a hand a \u2018weakened\u2019 BCCI has been dealt with,\u201d a senior cricket administrator told TOI.
\nOne of the concerns of the old guard is that the CoA is administering BCCI only for an interim period and will not have to live with the decisions taken right now.\u201dFor starters, we\u2019re hoping that Vinod Rai and his colleagues will also attend the SGM and hear everyone out. That\u2019ll at least lead to some bit of clarity,\u201d said the official.
\nBCCI mandarins claimed that Manohar – himself a former BCCI chief – had shown \u201cabsolute disregard for a legal document\u201d signed between the ICC and the BCCI. \u201cIt\u2019s a decisive day and it\u2019ll always be remembered in history as the moment when BCCI either changed the course of global cricket forever or fell in line with what was dictated to them. India will have to live with the decision it takes going forward,\u201d a prominent stakeholder in global cricket said.
\nBCCI\u2019s acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary had attended the ICC\u2019s board meeting in Dubai on behalf of India and the mandate given to him at the previous SGM was to either ask for a deferment of the meeting or oppose the reforms, come back and report to the state units at the next general meeting.
\nTOI had reported on April 3 that BCCI\u2019s final option – if the ICC went ahead with policy changes regardless of India\u2019s defiance – was to invoke the MPA and move out of the bilateral cycle. The state units have decided to take a call on the \u201cinevitable\u201d at the SGM, the date for which hasn\u2019t been decided yet.
\nNow, if BCCI members should decide at the upcoming SGM that India need to pull out of the Champions Trophy, it could lead to larger repercussion in terms of additional financial losses, such as the ICC responding in turn by asking other member nations to skip bilateral series with India, or stop making players available for the IPL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Online New Delhi The prospect of India pulling out of this year\u2019s Champions Trophy loomed large on Wednesday after the Indian cricket board (BCCI) was left isolated in its opposition to proposed reforms to the way the game is run globally. The BCCI was routed 1-9 in a vote of all member boards of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17018","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n