BCCI pays ICC Rs 2.4 crores for having extra squad member in 2015 World Cup squad

Dhawal Kulkarni did not feature in a single World Cup match

A recent piece of sensational news that has surfaced from the list of entries for BCCI payments for the month of November is that India’s cricket board paid the ICC a whopping Rs 2.4 crores for keeping Dhawal Kulkarni as part of the World Cup 2015 squad.

ICC rules stipulate that all squads taking part in the World Cup will be of 15 members, but the Indian board insisted on having Dhawal Kulkarni as the 17th member in Australia. Reports had suggested then that India had kept Dhawal as part of the team’s backroom staff. It had been a unique case of a current player being part of the team management.

The 25-year-old had been named in the initial list of 30 probables for the World Cup but didn’t make the final cut. He was overlooked even after Ishant Sharma’s injury as Mohit Sharma was chosen over him to replace the Delhi pacer.

Kulkarni was included mainly because Bhuvneshwar Kumar had been struggling with an injury ever since the tour to Australia started last December. With Mohammad Shami also missing a match in the World Cup due to injury, the BCCI found more reason to keep the Mumbaikar with the team.

The amount was paid to the ICC as payment towards "airfare, accommodation, per diem and catering charges incurred for additional team members during ICC CWC 2015," as the note on the Board's website says.

What makes the recent piece of news a little farcical is that Kulkarni had no actual role to play in the World Cup.

Other Payments

The BCCI has also paid the world cricket body an additional amount of USD 3,80,000 "towards ACSU services for IPL 2015."

Retired cricketer Zaheer Khan has been paid Rs 81.12 lakh "towards loss of pay rpt pay for IPL 2014".

Tour and match fees along with retainers have also been paid to current cricketers Harbhajan Singh, Umesh Yadav, Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay and Rohit Sharma while former captain Sunil Gavaskar has been given commentary fees for the period between July and September, 2015.

@rameshsrivats Transparency is good but too much transparency? BCCI lists all payments in excess of 25 lakhs in which 101010 finds a place!

— Mohan Lavi (@mohanlavi) December 1, 2015