Boycotting The Champions Trophy Will Not Work For India: Shahryar Khan
Apr 29, 2017 at 10:56 AM
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shahryar Khan has said that the majority of the International Cricket Council (ICC) member bodies are geared up to face the reaction from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) including the boycott of the ICC Champions Trophy, after their Indian counterparts were outvoted at the ICC Board meetings in Dubai earlier this week.
On Wednesday (April 26), the BCCI was outvoted 13-1 (nine Full Members, three Associates and the ICC chairman) as the governing body of the game approved the finance model which granted the BCCI a share of US $293 million from ICC events until 2023. However, the Indian cricket board, which used to get US $570 million dollars under the ‘Big Three’ formula, is miffed with the whole development and is seriously mulling on giving the upcoming Champions Trophy a miss as an act of defiance. They have already crossed the April 25 deadline for announcing the squads and the matter will become clear only after the BCCI’s Special General Metting (SGM) on May 7.
But for the time being speculations are rife that the BCCI have kept open the option of skipping the tournament.
However, Shahryar Khan feels that boycotting the tournament will not help BCCI’s cause.
“Yes India has strongly opposed the resolution at the ICC meeting. However, it received the support only from Sri Lanka while the rest were in favour of getting rid of the ‘big three’ formula,” the Dawn quoted Shahryar as saying.
“India has warned the ICC about its likely reaction which may come in the form of Champions Trophy boycott but let me clear it that it will not work as most of the member countries are ready to play without India. And in that case [India boycotting Champions Trophy], West Indies or any other team could be included in the fray by the ICC,” he added.
He even said that the ICC is ready to face the financial losses due to India’s absence in the tournament which begins from June 1 in the United Kingdom.
“The ICC may face financial losses due to [possible] Indian absence at the Champions Trophy. However, most of the member countries are ready for it. Therefore, hopefully the [likely] boycott by India will not be enough to press the ICC for accepting BCCI demands,” he said.