SC panel to BCCI: Select team for Champions Trophy

With India alone missing April 25 deadline, CoA tells board to name squad without any delay

The Supreme Courtappointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), in a stronglyworded statement to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has asked the cricket body to select the Indian squad for the ICC Champions Trophy, starting in the United Kingdom on June 1. The deadline for the team selection was April 25, but BCCI did not abide by it in an apparent protest over ICC’s decision to implement a new financial model that would see India losing substantial revenue. Several BCCI officials even threatened to pull out of the event.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Courtappointed Committee of Administrators has rebuked the Board of Control for Cricket in India officials for delaying the naming of the Indian cricket team for next month’s ICC Champions Trophy in UK.

In a strongly-worded letter to acting BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary on Thursday, the CoA, led by former auditor general of India Vinod Rai, took exception to the Board’s stance to use the players as pawns in their revenue-share battle with the ICC bosses. “The BCCI appears to have lost sight of the fact that it attained a pre-eminent position in the ICC not by a combative approach but by building consensus and ensuring a positive image including by helping other cricket boards in their time of need,” the CoA said in its letter.

India, led by MS Dhoni, had won the ICC Champions Trophy in UK in 2013. India beat hosts England in a rain-hit final at Edgbaston. India start their 2017 ICC Champions Trophy campaign against Pakistan in Birmingham on June 4. “There has been more than enough negativity surrounding Team India’s participation in the ICC Champions Trophy and the sooner the same is put to rest the better. The players’ interests are paramount and they must be given the best chance to prepare for, defend and retain the ICC Champions Trophy,” the administrators said.

According to the ICC’s revised financial model based on equity and good conscience, BCCI will receive $293 million across the eight year cycle, England $143m, Zimbabwe $94m and the remaining seven Full Members $132m

each. Associate Members will receive funding of $280m. This model was passed 13 votes to one.

Unhappy with this model, India threatened to withdraw

from the ICC Champions Trophy as a mark of protest. The CoA has rejected such an approach from the BCCI. India also failed to name their squad by April 25.