Cricket Australia, ECB and BCCI under Shashank Manohar came together to scrap the ‘Big 3’ decision which reduced the revenue for others. (Source: Reuters) Cricket Australia, ECB and BCCI under Shashank Manohar came together to scrap the ‘Big 3’ decision which reduced the revenue for others. (Source: Reuters)

FOUR DAYS prior to the BCCI’s special AGM, Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) secretary Kasi Viswanathan had written to Shashank Manohar questioning his recommendations to rollback the ICC’s revenue-sharing model that favoured the Big Three, including India, to a more equitable distribution. In his letter, he had also raised the apprehension that Manohar would remove BCCI’s ‘permanent membership’ in the ICC’s two most powerful committees — both executive and financial. And it is learnt that these issues were raised on Friday during the meeting by Haryana Cricket Association (HCA), Anirudh Chaudhry.

However, sources present at the AGM revealed that the BCCI president Manohar dismissed their demands and insisted that if the two associations were so much in favour of a performance-based revenue model, it should be be implemented in India.

“Why not start it in India?” the source quoted Manohar has having said, “If you want to implement this then it will ensure that teams like Mumbai and Karnataka will get more money while the smaller associations who do not produce the same kind of performances will get a smaller amount. Will you all be ok with that?”

In fact, Chaudhry and TNCA didn’t find any backers for their gripe with even Sharad Pawar, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) president, agreeing with Manohar.

“All the cricket boards in the world are here to serve cricket. Money is fine. But we should be magnanimous towards the smaller countries,” the source shared what Pawar had said.

It was in November soon after taking up the role of ICC chairman that Manohar had criticized the imbalance in power resulting from the constitutional overhaul which allowed India, Australia and England to ‘bully’ the other member nations. The sentiment was followed up by charting out a concrete path to restore parity in ICC’s first meeting of 2016 held in February in Dubai.

In his letter dated February 15 and accessed by The Indian Express, TNCA’s Viswanathan — a close aide of former BCCI president N Srinivasan — brought up his concerns. He first talked up Srinivasan’s achievements as BCCI president before shooting out specific queries.

“BCCI had managed to achieve three important breakthroughs for Indian cricket. Firstly, BCCI’s nominee was elected as the First Chairman of ICC. You are aware that previously under rotation for President, BCCI nominee would have been President of ICC not before 2023. Secondly, BCCI was made a permanent member of the Finance & Commercial Affairs Committee and in the Executive Committee of the ICC. Thirdly and above all, ICC saw reason and logic in BCCI’s demand for a higher share of the broadcast income of ICC. All of these were discussed and approved by the Working Committee of the BCCI on 23rd January, 2014,” he writes.

None more equal than others

It was announced earlier this month that Manohar will head a five-member steering group in the annual ICC conference in June this year which will put together the recommendations to change the way ICC revenue was shared. “‘We had very purposeful and positive meetings, and the decisions taken clearly reflect that we collectively want to improve the governance in a transparent manner, not only of the ICC but also the member boards. This, in turn, will enhance the image and quality of the sport. No member of the ICC is bigger than the other and I am determined to make a meaningful contribution in this regard with support of all the members.’” Manohar had said.

In his letter, Viswanathan also detailed out the increase in revenue for BCCI, fixing it at Rs 3822 crore based on the Big Three revenue model. At the sidelines of the February meeting in Dubai, the president of Bangladesh Cricket Nazmul Hasan had revealed that Manohar had spoken about giving away part of India’s share in that meeting. “Mr Shashank Manohar has said he wants to give away a percentage from India’s behalf. He said he will speak to his board and if he gets approval, he said he will give around 6% of the money (6% of India’s 22% share of ICC revenues),” Hasan had said.

This has triggered angst in TNCA. Viswanathan ended his letter with questions to Manohar.

“1) Is it true that you have made any statements in the ICC giving up BCCI’s permanent membership in the ICC committees? 2) Have you made any commitments to the ICC on BCCI’s share of contribution costs? 3) If the answer to one or both of the above questions is in the affirmative, kindly let me know under what authority have you taken this decision when this matter has not been discussed in either the Working Committee meeting or the General Body meeting of BCCI held recently? 4) When your action could cost BCCI hundreds and thousands of Crores by way of revenue, was it not legally and morally obligatory on your part to take into confidence the member associations whose bottom-line is finally affected?” he writes.

While not replying to the letter directly, Manohar did address these concerns during the AGM, but didn’t budge from his stance.

Meanwhile, in their official press release post the AGM, the BCCI announced that the ‘members authotirzed the president and secretary to discuss the governance and financial restructuring of the ICC subject to such restructuring being incorporated in the constitution of the ICC for permanency’.

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