ICC's Wish to Replace 2021 Champions Trophy With World T20 May Cost BCCI $30 Million: Anirudh Chaudhry

New Delhi: Meeting the media after the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) Special General Meeting in the Capital on December 11 last year, the acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary had confirmed that India would be hosting the 2021 ICC Champions Trophy and the 2023 ICC World Cup. This came as a huge sign of relief as there were talks that the ICC was planning to scrap the Champions Trophy — a tournament started by none other than legendary administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya. While the success of the 2017 edition of the 50-over tournament saw ICC reconsidering their decision, it is now being said that the ICC in its current meeting in Kolkata is once again planning to replace the 50-over format with a World T20.

With a World T20 already planned for 2020 in Australia, the move comes as a big shock as having another T20 tournament in less than a year’s gap would not only mean repetition for the fans, but also when it comes to the financial side of a multi-nation event, it would cost the BCCI heavily. The move has clearly not gone down well with BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry.

Speaking to CricketNext, the treasurer said that it would mean a huge loss to not just the BCCI and its stakeholders, but also shows that the Indian board is time and again asked to make sacrifices while other boards enjoy the fruits of their labour as it is no secret that India’s interest seems to be the last on ICC’s mind.

“The BCCI in its General Body meeting held in December 2017 had given an in-principle approval to the FTP that had been presented to it. India was to host the Champions Trophy in 2021 and the Cricket World Cup in 2023. It is now learnt that there is a proposal to replace the Champions Trophy tournament scheduled in 2021 by a World T20 event. This would cause a loss of about 30 million USD to the BCCI and its stakeholders. Knowing the mood of the member organisations of the BCCI, in all likelihood, this would be unacceptable to the BCCI’s General Body who had earlier resolved that the Member Participation Agreement with the ICC would not be executed without the approval of the General Body. Having worked with Shashank Manohar, one realises that he does miss out on briefing the house on crucial information that has potentially significant ramifications for the organisation concerned and therefore it is important for the ICC Board to understand the correct picture vis-à-vis the BCCI.

“The BCCI has repeatedly been asked to make sacrifices, apparently for the greater good. The BCCI has made those sacrifices in the recent past. However, this practice of asking the BCCI alone to make all the sacrifices in order to benefit the others doesn’t seem to be going away. This utilitarian argument of the greater good is usually used to trample upon the rights and opportunities of a section that is excluded from that greater good. It appears that the morality of the ICC excludes India’s interests but includes India’s money. It also appears that the true intent and the optics of the intent also differ greatly,” he said.

“How can we, the BCCI, devalue the life of a child playing cricket in a remote district in India in order to add value to a life of someone playing cricket in Ireland or Pakistan. All life is valuable and as BCCI it is our duty to do the best we can for those who play the game within our area of operation.”

Another senior member echoed the sentiments and said that sometimes it gets difficult to understand if Manohar is working for the ICC or for Pakistan Cricket Board. “The greater good, where Shashank is involved, appears to always ends up helping his personal ambitions. Whether it was BCCI being forced to give up 200 million USD and Shashank becoming ICC Chairman or now where the BCCI is being pressurised to agree to lose 300-400 crores and Shashank is eager to continue as the ICC Chairman. The ICC is interested in a chairman who can sabotage India’s interest and Shashank is interested in continuing as chairman.

“It appears that the morality of the ICC excludes India’s interests but includes India’s money. The next BCCI General Body meeting will also decide on issues pertaining to the ICC including who BCCI shall support for the position of the ICC Chairman since a majority of members believe that Shashank has been working against the interest of India while he has been working for the interest of Pakistan,” he revealed.