da bet7： The working committee meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket inIndia (BCCI) at New Delhi yesterday made a decision that has beenwidely viewed as the first step in a long drawn battle with the IndianGovernment
Anand Vasu25-Apr-2001The working committee meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket inIndia (BCCI) at New Delhi yesterday made a decision that has beenwidely viewed as the first step in a long drawn battle with the IndianGovernment. Following the Government’s ambiguous stance on playingagainst Pakistan, the BCCI has decided not to take part in any eventsinvolving Pakistan. This includes fixtures conducted under the aegisof the International Cricket Council (ICC) like the ICC KnockOutTrophy and the World Cup.”In the absence of clear-cut guidelines in this matter, the Board hasdecided to play only in bilateral or triangular series involving Testplaying countries. We will not participate in tournaments such as AsiaCup, ICC Knock-out series (2002) and the 2003 World Cup because we donot know whether we would be able to play certain sides, likePakistan, or not,” said Board President AC Muthiah. Only recently, theIndian Government issued a directive to the BCCI prohibiting them fromtaking part in tournaments in certain offshore venues includingSharjah, Singapore and Toronto. Citing the reason that these venuesfostered irregularities like betting and matchfixing, the Governmentmade a unilateral decision not to play in these venues for threeyears.The agenda for working committee meetings of the BCCI is always laidout well in advance. In this case, there was no mention of thiscrucial decision prior to the meeting although the BCCI made it clearthat it would discuss a host of issues, including the irregularitiesin ticket sales at Goa where the last One-Dayer against Australia tookplace, the appointment of the BCCI media manager and the affiliationof four new states to the BCCI. The fact the Board President came outwith this announcement soon after the meeting took reporters andanalysts by surprise.It is quite clear the BCCI has not taken kindly to the Governmentclipping its wings in this regard. After withdrawing from thetriangular series in Sharjah, India came up for a lot of criticism ininternational fora. As is to be expected the Pakistan Cricket Boardcame out strongly against the BCCI and went to the extent of askingthe ICC to take some disciplinary action. With the ICC ruling out thepossibility of any disciplinary action on the basis that the Sharjahtourney was not an ICC endorsed event, the controversy subsided.However the latest decision taken by the BCCI has put the Governmentin a spot. Only recently, India put in a strong bid to host the ICCKnockOut Trophy which is scheduled for September next year. Thehosting of the event was already in doubt, with the Indian Income Taxauthorities not withdrawing tax exemptions that were earlierprevalent. The BCCI is doing its best to secure the tax exemption andhas suggested that it would even go to the courts if necessary. ICCPresident Malcolm Gray has given the BCCI time till April 30 to securethe tax exemption. If the BCCI fail to secure the exemption, the eventwill be shifted elsewhere.In case the BCCI does secure the right to host the ICC KnockOut, theGovernment will be in a strange and very embarrassing predicament. TheBCCI has said it will not take part in the tournament unless theGovernment comes up with a “clear-cut” stance on the matter. It’s notoften that a team hosts an ICC event without taking part. Indeed,would be a case of throwing a party without taking part in theoccasion…