Dubai The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took the bold step of missing the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) April 25 deadline for announcing the squad for the Champions Trophy.
India thus became the only participating nation to miss the deadline as Pakistan, which had also delayed naming their team, finally announced the names before the deadline. All the seven teams participating in the Champions Trophy starting on June 1 in England and Wales have announced their teams.
As per the direction of ICC, all teams were supposed to name their squads by midnight Dubai time. India has however delayed its decision to announce the team since it has threatened to withdraw from the Champions Trophy should its demand to retain its share of revenue is not met during the ongoing ICC meeting in Dubai.
The ICC had initiated reforms to undo the big-three revenue model, which may bring the BCCI’s share down from $570 million (Dh2.09 billion) to $290 million. It is likely that India may announce the team only after the conclusion of the Dubai meeting Thursday that too if the same revenue it would have received from the ICC under the original Big Three model is approved. Members Participation Agreement (MPA) also gives any cricket board the right to pull out of the tournament in case of disagreement. It is understood that ICC can permit a country to announce their team past the deadline under certain circumstances. In short, there is no provision for any punitive action against the BCCI for not honouring the April 25 deadline to name the Champions Trophy squad.
According to information from India, the selectors have already picked the Team India squad, but they are waiting for clearance from the BCCI to officially announce the team.
As per the tournament rules teams are free to make changes to their submitted squads until May 25. From then on, changes can only be made on medical grounds, and only after they have been approved by the event technical committee. However, the team will have to be announced quickly. If India pulls out of the Champions trophy there will be a huge drop in viewership for the event and the official broadcasters — Star is likely to side with India.
A senior BCCI official has even challenged the ICC saying “if we name the squad only by May 5 will ICC bar us from participation? We have a settled squad and naming it is just a formality.”
The ICC would need the teams to announce their squads in the light of smooth conduct of visa formalities, flights and hotel bookings, publicity and merchandising. So a deadline before any big international tournament has to be strictly adhered.
According to sources, negotiations now going on in Dubai may lead to a settlement. According to media reports, BCCI has provided a new plan by which interests of the all boards are protected, but at the same time they can retain their share of income from the ICC. BCCI’s acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary along with treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhary is understood to have held a series of informal meetings with different boards here. A final decision will be made by the ICC Thursday after the meeting.
