NEW DELHI: The BCCI is likely to back the candidature of New Zealand’s Greg Barclay over Singapore’s Imran Khwaja in the elections for the ICC chairman.
Barclay and Khwaja are the only two candidates contesting for the chairman’s post and the 16-member all-powerful ICC Board is set to vote in the first week of December.
“The BCCI is more aligned with New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and those who matter in Indian cricket board find Barclay as a more suitable candidate for the post. Also Khwaja’s policy positioning isn’t exactly in favour of Indian cricket,” a senior official, privy to developments in ICC board, told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
“Barclay, with his focus on bilateral cricket, is more acceptable to India,” the administrator said.
Nice sounding words notwithstanding, that Khwaja will not have BCCI’s backing is a given considering that the Singaporean has the support of BCCI’s “arch enemy” and ” cricketing body that shall not be named” (if the BCCI has any say in the matter) Pakistan Cricket Board.
However, in the post COVID-19 world, each and every board, which has had multiple bilateral series cancelled, would like to squeeze in as many of them as there is handsome revenue generation through broadcasting rights.
