Board of Control for Cricket in India President N. Srinivasan, who will be the chairman of the International Cricket Council from July this year, spoke exclusively to The Hindu on Sunday.
Following are the excerpts:
Do you see the approval of the proposals as a point being proven?
I think it’s good for cricket overall, good for the financial health of all full and Associate & Affiliate members. There is meritocracy.
Sri Lanka and Pakistan abstained from voting. Are you looking at getting them on board?
It’s an ICC resolution and eight members have approved it. It (reaching out to Sri Lanka and Pakistan) is not just my responsibility. It’s for everybody to work on.
Cricket South Africa was among the Full Member nations that initially opposed the proposal. How did it eventually toe the line?
On January 9, we presented a draft proposal. I couldn’t attend the meeting on January 28 as my mother had passed away. Maybe some members had some lingering doubts on the proposals. When the doubts got clarified, they (proposals) found support.
The BCCI-Cricket Australia-England & Wales Cricket Board axis is accused of forming an oligarchy. Will it be a return to the veto era that the BCCI once opposed?
There are sections of media and certain groups that are opposed to the BCCI. In this whole arrangement, please point out where is the veto. There is nothing wrong (in the Executive Committee having BCCI, CA, and ECB as permanent members), these are recommendatory committees.
The final decision about ExCo and F&CA is taken by the Board where every member is present. Where is the question of oligarchy?
The new Future Tours Programme points to a bilateral arrangement between nations. Will it be a case of only the stronger, more marketable teams playing against one another?
That is not the intention unless you want to put it that way.
How did you arrive at the revenue-distribution arrangement?
There’s a rationale to it. Weightage was given to contribution, history, development of cricket, and performance in ICC events.
Why weren’t the recommendations of the Woolf report incorporated?
The BCCI rejected the Woolf committee report because it was biased. Mr. Woolf was supposed to consult every board before tabling his report. Only on the evening (before the report was to be tabled), did he have a chat with me. You have to ask ECB and CA (if they were on the same page as the BCCI on the Woolf report).
What will be your role as an ICC chairman given that it’s a newly-created position?
Enough has been written about it last year. The roles of President and Chairman have been defined.
The BCCI has been opaque in its operations…
Do you want us to televise meetings? We have got systems in place. What we can’t do is invite the media to such meetings.
Our job is to administer cricket. We communicate what is necessary.
You have spoken about India having a defined home season…
We are working on it. The season starts from October and goes on till March. The idea is to have at least two home series.
