BCCI and CoA fight a proxy battle over Asia Cup

Given the complex political situation between India and Pakistan, a bilateral series between the archrivals is a distant thought in the near future. Hence, the upcoming Asia Cup tournament would remain one of the biggest highlights solely because the age-old nemeses take on each other. However, such level of entertainment comes at a cost and the buildup to it was marred by the prolonged debates after India refused to host Pakistan in their country.

The Asia Cricket Council (ACC) had tried heir best to convince India to host the tournament in the country that could have been financially advantageous for all. It led to several in-line procedures as the BCCI wrote to the Home ministry of the central government, the Prime Minister's office, and the Union Sports ministry to ask for the necessary directives. Eventually, the center's view on the matter was clear - Host it anywhere but India.

Consequently, the venue was changed to the United Arab Emirates provided by the Emirates Cricket Board and that decision remained central to a very bitter battle brewing between members of BCCI and the court-appointed administrators(CoA). According to the members of BCCI, hosting the tournament at the venues provided by the Emirates Cricket Board would increase the expenses by double to what shall be spent at any other nation which is a part of the ACC.

The ACC has committed an allotment of US$2.5m to host the tournament with the Emirates Cricket Board also eligible for maximum revenue of US$5.5m from ticketing revenue to be earned from the entire tournament and anything in excess of that USD 5.5m will come to BCCI.

The CoA, on the other hand, had a number of justifications for its decision to host the tournament in UAE. They stated that Bangladesh had already hosted the tournament for three consecutive years and hence some freshness had to be induced this time. Hosting in UAE would be better than any other neutral venue because of its diaspora. The third very strong reason that they pointed out was that the expenses formulated for this Asia cup are much less than what the BCCI spent to host 15 matches for the Indian Premier League in 2014.

The members of the BCCI are still not ready to accept the justifications and have convinced themselves that it is not a wrong decision. They still have been framing the whole thing as one major scam because they do not agree by the financial figures getting presented by the BCCI CEO’s office.