Amitabh Choudhary (TOI Photo)

MUMBAI: The members of the Indian cricket board, miffed at the International Cricket Council ’s ( ICC ) ‘unanimous’ decision to convert the format of the Champions Trophy from a 50-over tournament to T20 starting 2021, have accused their own colleagues — the BCCI’s acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary and CEO Rahul Johri — of ‘back-stabbing’.

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The ICC, on Thursday, announced the final structure of the newly drafted Future Tours Programme (between 2019 & 2023) saying it has received “unanimous backing”.

Members of the BCCI have accused secretary Choudhary of collaborating with the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) with Johri merely being a standby to the ICC’s overall approach in “snubbing” India yet again.

BCCI and ICC had last witnessed a standoff when the members of the global body had proposed to change the revenue and governance models of the game’s administration last year.

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This time, TOI has learnt that the members of the parent body are in line with the format of the Champions Trophy being changed from 50 overs to 20 overs because of a further infusion of close to Rs 450 crore on part of ICC’s official broadcaster. “A World T20 will be a longer tournament than the Champions Trophy. So, there’s a clause in the ICC’s media rights agreement which dictates this policy (of broadcaster shelling out more),” says an industry executive in the know of things. However, this same executive adds that since India is scheduled to host the 2021 World T20 (read: Champions Trophy), “it will now eat into India’s home calendar” because of the extended duration.

CEO Johri first attended the chief executives meeting of the ICC followed by secretary Choudhary attending the ICC Board meeting in Dubai this February when the idea to change the format of the tournament was first proposed. “Johri and Choudhary have both not communicated to the members about the decision in Dubai despite Choudhary being mandated to report to the general body,” say members.

TOI had first reported about ICC’s decision to change the format of the Champions Trophy on March 20. The parent body, in a desperate attempt to make up for the losses projected in their proposed revenue distribution for member boards this financial cycle, had arrived at this decision, outside of urging BCCI to “request” the Indian government for tax exemptions.

In what is now being seen as a ‘joke’ in the cricket fraternity, the ICC will host back-to-back World T20s in 2020 and 2021. For a sport already being accused of killing one format (ODI) to sustain another (Test) and then allow a third to assume unparalleled significance (T20s), hosting back to back World T20s is already being spoken about as the killing of the golden goose.

“There’s a reason why FIFA hosts one world event every four years — to retain its novelty. Imagine hosting a World Cup every two years. The BCCI can be accused of thinking about making money but that never happened at the cost of killing one format of the game to support another. Those who point fingers at India should first look at themselves,” say industry executives.

