2017 Champions Trophy: India might pull out from next year's tourney

Notwithstanding the former BCCI President, Shashank Manohar heading the ICC (International Cricket Council), the dispute between BCCI and the ICC hit the headlines on Wednesday.

The BCCI have warned the ICC that they might withdraw Team India from participating in next year’s Champions Trophy scheduled to be held in England. BCCI were not called for the ICC’s finance committee meeting in Dubai.

BCCI secretary, Ajay Shirke said that the board is humiliated after they were excluded from the finance committee meeting. “These are the committees where all the important decisions are taken — finance, commerce, and chief executives committee; India not having a representative (in those committees) is a humiliation for us, he told The Indian Express.

“We will tell the ICC, ‘either you amend this or we will decide what to do to protect India’s cricket interests globally’. It could be anything. We may even not play the Champions Trophy. Better sense may prevail, and we may not reach that stage at all. But there are so many options,” he added.

Earlier there was a rift over the budget allocation for major ICC events. ICC proposed an approximate budget of $ 135 million for organizing the Champions Trophy 2017 in England and Wales. BBCI expressed its concerns over the budget allotment as it is three times of that of $ 45 million that was allocated to BCCI for conducting the ICC World Twenty20 2016 in India.

Gone are the days when the voice of ICC was almost a carbon copy of the BCCI’s voice. For the meantime, the two governing bodies headed by Anurag Thakur and Shashank Manohar seem to be having contradicting voices.

India are the current holders of the ICC Champions Trophy and didn’t lose a single match in the last edition which was also played in England in 2013

Meanwhile, Team India is all set to begin their long home season where they will play as many as 13 Tests, 8 ODIs, and 3 Twenty20s. They will kickstart the long and grueling season against the Kane Williamson led New Zealand.

This is followed by England, Australia, and Bangladesh. Keeping in mind how the Proteas fared in India last year, they might prepare wickets conducive for spinners but they must be wary of the fact that the Kiwis also have quality spinners like Santner and Ish Sodhi who tormented the Indian batting line up in the last T20 World Cup in India.