The International Cricket Council’s fast-approaching
move to push major amendments that are aimed at
dismantling the supremacy of the troika formed by
India, Australia and England who, as the ‘Big Three’,
perennially enjoy the lion’s share of revenue and a position
of super dominance in world cricket, has more than ruffled
the Indian Board’s (BCCI) feathers. The ICC’s move comes
at a time when there is a vacuum in Indian cricket’s leadership
as it’s hardly a week since the Supreme Court appointed
a four-member committee of administrators (COA), led by ex-
CAG Vinod Rai, to oversee the Board’s administrative affairs.
This followed the sacking of the BCCI’s top brass for failing to
comply with the Lodha committee recommendations to clean
up Indian cricket.
While the COA’s role is interim in nature, its present task is
to safeguard the country’s cricketing interests both on and off
the field and stave off the move by the ICC to ring in changes
that would crush the dominance
of the ‘Big Three’. The COA has its
priorities as it endeavours to cleanup
Indian cricket and make it as
fair and transparent as possible. At
the same time it has a serious battle
to wage as it finds itself in a dilemma
“ should it approve the changes
suggested by the ICC or recommend
that India withdraw from its international engagements
beginning with the ICC Champions Trophy in England on June
1. The latter could be a harsh recommendation as it is bound to
have serious repercussions both on the revenue and the fans.
Cricket is not only a binding force in the country it is also the
only big ticket sport in which we excel. Any move to reduce or
scale it down is bound to have a negative effect on fans. The
fact that Star is ICC’s TV rights partner ensures that the parent
body earns in excess of US $2b and of that money, the value
that Star puts on Indian cricket is estimated to be around
US$1.6b, suggesting that BCCI is a vital cog in the ICC scheme
of things.
The fact that ICC’s new model would reduce BCCI share by
34% for the 2015-2023 rights cycle has rubbed the world’s richest
cricket board the wrong way. They are right in feeling so.
After all, BCCI has also been contributing to the ICC coffers
in more ways than one and hence enjoys financial monopoly
as world cricket’s ‘Big Daddy’. However, with former BCCI
chief Shashank Manohar now at the helm at the ICC, the stage
is set for a change as the Indian board will stand to earn less
(US$290m) under the new model instead of the US$400m.
Therefore, the COA needs to act swiftly to prevent the BCCI
from falling prey to ICC’s policy changes or cricket will stand
to lose its paramount status in a cricket-mad nation.
