BCCI picks up where Manohar left off

Board agrees to end arrangement in which most of ICC revenue went to India, England & Australia

The Board of Control in Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to toe the line of its previous president Shashank Manohar with regard to dismantling the ‘Big Three’, an arrangement under which India, England and Australia were to receive a larger chunk of the International Cricket Council’s global revenue.

The BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke will be part of the ICC’S annual conference which will begin in Edinburgh next week. Thakur is part of the ICC’S board of directors while Shirke is a member of the chief executive’s committee.

On the sidelines of the BCCI’S working committee meeting in Dharamsala, Thakur told The Indian Express: “We are not against what Shashank Manohar had wanted. We believe that every cricket playing country must get revenue from the ICC for the development of the sport. The distribution of money from the ICC should be as even as possible and all countries must benefit. So we will not be opposing what Manohar had proposed (dismantling the Big Three).”

The ICC’S annual conference is scheduled to begin on June 27 and Thakur’s comments, coming with less than a week before the conference, means that the status of ‘Big Three’ is unlikely to exist. Two years ago a new executive committee with permanent posts for representatives from India, Australia and England was formed and changes were brought about to the ICC’S revenue sharing model to favour these three nations. N Srinivasan, who was the BCCI president at that point in time, also took over as chairman of the ICC.

However, Srinivasan’s successor Manohar was against the cozy club of the Big Three which was a result of the constitution revamp. Manohar is currently the first independent chairman of the ICC. Though reports in the run-up to the ICC meet suggested that the BCCI may insist on the Big Three set-up continuing, there seems to be a change in stand, going by what Thakur said on Friday.

Mini IPL in September

A mini-ipl or an ‘overseas IPL’ which will comprise of the eight teams and will be held over just a two-week period in September every year is on the cards.

“In the month of September the BCCI is willing to host ‘mini-ipl’ or ‘IPL overseas’ with all the eight teams participating in a shorter format,” Thakur said after the BCCI’S working committee meeting in Dharamsala. “Not home and away matches, but less number of matches in less than a two-week window. We would be able to complete that,” the BCCI president said adding that it would be a challenge to find an ideal slot on the packed cricket calendar which will also includes the Duleep Trophy in September.

It is learnt that the BCCI was keen to make the most of the void created by the scrapping of the Champions League T20, a tournament in which T20 champions from across the world participated. Also, by starting a mini-ipl, which will be held annually, the BCCI also has an opportunity to generate additional revenue by selling broadcasting rights. The broadcasting right of the IPL is held by Sony till next year, while Star has the rights for home matches of the BCCI.

Thakur admitted that there was a lot of work left before more details of the mini-ipl could be finalised. “It is a tight schedule. It is in a less than two-week window that we have to organise (the tournament). And we have to look into various details: which country we can play, how many teams, how many players should participate, who will be the broadcaster – all these issues need to deliberated, but we are keen to play in that window.”

The BCCI has also not decided on which country will host the shortened version of the IPL and will do so only after carefully studying the most suited time zone and the market for the sport.

New T20 format

At the working committee meeting, the BCCI also decided to do away with current format of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 and there is also the possibility of the name of the former cricketer not being retained for the new tournament. State teams will first play the tournament in their zones, following which zonal teams will be picked to represent respective zones (earlier state teams would progress) and will play a T20 League.

“We are going to start a new zonal league where the stakeholders will be the state units and the window will be created during the time when the Mushtaq Ali tournament would have been held and it will give youngsters who cannot participate in the IPL an opportunity. Once the state-level tournament is over, a board (state unit representatives) will be formed and they will appoint a CEO and selectors to select teams from the respective zones. We will have five zonal teams in the T20 league tournament and may also have a team of associate or affiliate teams or a Board team,” Thakur said.

BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke will be part of the ICC’S annual conference which will begin in Edinburgh next week.