CT 2017: BCCI admits it blundered by focusing too much on ICC's revised revenue model

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has admitted that it had blundered by laying too much focus on the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) revised revenue model — where the Indian board is slated to lose $277 million (approximately Rs 1,780 crores) — and had overlooked the changes being brought about in the ICC’s governance model. The BCCI and the ICC were involved in a bitter wrangling ever since the former was outvoted in an ICC Board Meeting on 26 April, with the Indian body suggesting it would pull out of the Champions Trophy, which begins on 1 July in England, by not naming a squad. However, it finally blinked last week and are slated to name the team on Monday. [caption id=“attachment_3430144” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Representative image. AFP PHOTO[/caption] This is not the first time the BCCI has tried to bully the other cricketing nations when things haven’t gone their way. “We ignored larger issues contained in the governance model. It was something the state bodies weren’t aware of,” Committee of Administrators (CoA) head Vinod Rai was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times. The report also quoted Acting Secretary Amitabh Choudhary admitting that BCCI “did not focus on the right goals.” One prominent decision the BCCI wanted to oppose was ICC board’s decision to include more members in its Board – Afghanistan, Ireland, four directors, including a woman – and give them votes. “We wanted to oppose this. It dilutes our vote. We lost 9-1 this time. With the addition of these votes, we’ll lose 16 or 17-1. We wanted ICC to make them associate directors without a vote,” Rai told HT. The report added that before Choudhary and treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary went to Dubai to attend the ICC Board Meeting, they met the CoA in Mumbai and were specifically told to focus on governance. The CoA also pointed out that the money that the BCCI was losing could be earned back through bilateral series.