New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is not in favour of taking approval from International Cricket Council (ICC) for conducting domestic tournaments including Indian Premier League.
“The regulations put forward by the ICC suggest that all boards have to get a sanction for conducting their domestic tournaments — be it the IPL, Big Bash, the upcoming The Hundred or even the other domestic tournaments like the Ranji Trophy and other premier domestic tournaments. BCCI feels that ICC should have very little role in conducting domestic tournaments,” a BCCI official told a leading English newspaper.
The reason behind ICC's proposal is to keep an eye on the sprouting of various cricket leagues around the world. “It’s true that there needs to be a check on the proliferating leagues but that doesn’t mean a board like BCCI will have to go through ICC to conduct its own domestic tournaments. ICC can do it with the associate members but 10 full members adhere to the basic standards. ECB and CA are also of the same opinion,” the BCCI official added.
It has also been learned that ICC is planning to limit the number of T20 leagues an international cricketer can play. According to the report, an international player can only participate in two T20 leagues -- including their home league.
The BCCI official also pointed out that ICC's move has not found any support from financially strong boards including England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia (CA).
“It is felt that that capping of an international player would mean active players from countries which don’t offer strong contracts like BCCI, CA and ECB, would retire from international cricket. For example, an Andre Russell would not want to miss out on making money just to play for West Indies as the WICB won’t even come close to compensating him financially through its central contract,” the official said.
