The working committee meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in
India (BCCI) at New Delhi yesterday made a decision that has been
widely viewed as the first step in a long drawn battle with the Indian
Government. Following the Government's ambiguous stance on playing
against Pakistan, the BCCI has decided not to take part in any events
involving Pakistan. This includes fixtures conducted under the aegis
of the International Cricket Council (ICC) like the ICC KnockOut
Trophy and the World Cup.
"In the absence of clear-cut guidelines in this matter, the Board has
decided to play only in bilateral or triangular series involving Test
playing countries. We will not participate in tournaments such as Asia
Cup, ICC Knock-out series (2002) and the 2003 World Cup because we do
not know whether we would be able to play certain sides, like
Pakistan, or not," said Board President AC Muthiah. Only recently, the
Indian Government issued a directive to the BCCI prohibiting them from
taking part in tournaments in certain offshore venues including
Sharjah, Singapore and Toronto. Citing the reason that these venues
fostered irregularities like betting and matchfixing, the Government
made a unilateral decision not to play in these venues for three
years.
The agenda for working committee meetings of the BCCI is always laid
out well in advance. In this case, there was no mention of this
crucial decision prior to the meeting although the BCCI made it clear
that it would discuss a host of issues, including the irregularities
in ticket sales at Goa where the last One-Dayer against Australia took
place, the appointment of the BCCI media manager and the affiliation
of four new states to the BCCI. The fact the Board President came out
with this announcement soon after the meeting took reporters and
analysts by surprise.
It is quite clear the BCCI has not taken kindly to the Government
clipping its wings in this regard. After withdrawing from the
triangular series in Sharjah, India came up for a lot of criticism in
international fora. As is to be expected the Pakistan Cricket Board
came out strongly against the BCCI and went to the extent of asking
the ICC to take some disciplinary action. With the ICC ruling out the
possibility of any disciplinary action on the basis that the Sharjah
tourney was not an ICC endorsed event, the controversy subsided.
However the latest decision taken by the BCCI has put the Government
in a spot. Only recently, India put in a strong bid to host the ICC
KnockOut Trophy which is scheduled for September next year. The
hosting of the event was already in doubt, with the Indian Income Tax
authorities not withdrawing tax exemptions that were earlier
prevalent. The BCCI is doing its best to secure the tax exemption and
has suggested that it would even go to the courts if necessary. ICC
President Malcolm Gray has given the BCCI time till April 30 to secure
the tax exemption. If the BCCI fail to secure the exemption, the event
will be shifted elsewhere.
In case the BCCI does secure the right to host the ICC KnockOut, the
Government will be in a strange and very embarrassing predicament. The
BCCI has said it will not take part in the tournament unless the
Government comes up with a "clear-cut" stance on the matter. It's not
often that a team hosts an ICC event without taking part. Indeed,
would be a case of throwing a party without taking part in the
occasion...