India going to Champions Trophy

BCCI adopts safe route after SGM but acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary told to stay on India’s case with the BCCI

The Board as a whole also decided to not pursue any legal case against the ICC as any more confrontation will have a negative impact. The Committee of Administrators (CoA) is of the opinion that they should avoid it.

“The outcome of the meeting has been positive. India will participate in the Champions Trophy. There is no pulling out. The squad will be announced on Monday,” senior official Rajeev Shukla said after the meeting.

“Acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary has been authorised to renegotiate with ICC over the financial model is concerned,” said Shukla.

“Our approach is to try and resolve through dialogue rather than being confrontational. There are five six issues regarding revenue and governance model which need to be sorted,” Shukla said.

It has been learnt that Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) representative Niranjan Shah had proposed a resolution to give the Jharkhand cricket supremo full powers to negotiate. Incidentally, Saurashtra was one of the members against sending the team and exercising Members Participation Agreement to threaten pullout.

“The negotiation process will be an ongoing one before the ICC Annual Conference in June (where the current constitution will be ratified),” Choudhary said while refusing to give divulge the amount of money India will push for during the negotiations.

India were offered $100 million over the $293 million in their share during the ICC meeting. Choudhary had turned down the offer and returned to apprise the SGM and CoA of the offer.

He, however, did say on Sunday that legal options against ICC aren’t shut even though other members HT spoke to said they don’t want any confrontation.

“Playing in the Champions Trophy does not mean we agree with the ICC revenue and governance model. Not only revenue share but governance structure is also an issue,” Choudhary said.

CoA head Vinod Rai, however, hinted that it will be difficult to bargain on the governance structure, something they had been stressing on instead of revenue.

They, however, had kept the players in the loop ensuring their preparations weren’t affected. “I had spoken to Virat Kohli and told him that the India team is playing Champions Trophy,” said Rai. “The players always knew they were going to the tournament.”

Outcome of meeting has been positive. India will participate in the Champions Trophy. The squad will be announced on Monday

Playing in the Champions Trophy doesn’t mean we agree with ICC. Not only revenue share but governance is also an issue.