January 22, 2025

Sanity has prevailed with the BCCI agreeing to participate in the Champions Trophy. It is very easy to disrupt and create chaos. With the ICC clipping the BCCI’s wings with its new governance and financial models, some in the BCCI (most notably ex-president Srinivasan and his cohorts) wanted to boycott the Champions Trophy and take ICC to the courts. The latter is always an option for a party aggrieved with any decision that harms its interests. The former is not.

Too much is at stake in any major cricketing tournament. Apart from the fact that India is the defending champion for the trophy, the very fact that it has come to represent cricketing supremacy in the shorter format means that the millions of fans, who give the BCCI its financial muscle, eagerly await to see the performance of their stars on the world stage. Further, the advertisers who flock to buy either the rights or spots on live broadcast are driven by the fan frenzy. Crores are at stake and the BCCI would not have achieved anything by cutting its nose to spite ICC’s face because the two are interlinked.

The firmness with which the COA handled the situation must be welcomed. The BCCI is not the preserve of a select few. Regardless of their differences with the ICC, the show must go on. The game must not suffer because the mandarins of the two bodies do not see eye to eye. If the BCCI is aggrieved with the recent ICC decisions on the governance and finance models, it has three ways to tackle them. It can indulge in backroom diplomacy to negotiate a better deal. Or it can ally enough members to its side to force a rethink and revote. Finally, it can approach the courts to ensure its interests are not harmed. But withdrawing from a tournament shows pettiness that does not suit the richest cricketing body in the world.