LONDON: “You gave a little, you take a little.” The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s decision to play ball with the International Cricket Council on a revised revenue share model has closed the loop on what has been an long festering irritant – the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with its Pakistani counterparts during N Srinivasan’s tenure in 2014.
The MoU, which required the two countries to play six bilateral series, is now officially dead and buried. The ICC will henceforth not interfere in modalities related to bilateral agreements involving two nations. According to ICC’s amended constitution, member nations will have full right to decide on bilateral series, itinerary and every other subsidiary detail.
With the BCCI no longer required to honour the commitment it made to the Pakistan Cricket Board on bilaterals, that also closes the door on the PCB’s “last option” of turning to the ICC as an arbitrator on its demand for $60 million compensation from the Indian board.
As a BCCI official told DNA, “Whether to play Pakistan or not is a matter dealt by governments of both the countries. No one can blackmail us now if there is an issue on the border.”
The other big positive for the BCCI that has come its way from the conference deliberations is that the Indian cricket board will now also be a part of the governance group, and more importantly, the ICC’s strategic working group, which takes decisions on a lot of important commerce and finance related issues.
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