A strong India is good for world cricket: N Srinivasan

The BCCI president has defended the board's role in pushing for a power-shift in the ICC contending that "a strong India is good for world cricket"

New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president N Srinivasan has defended the board's role in pushing for a power-shift in the International Cricket Council (ICC) contending that "a strong India is good for world cricket".


N Srinivasan

Srinivasan, who is spearheading India's claim for a higher percentage of the ICC's global revenues, rubbished suggestions that the BCCI and its two key allies, Cricket Australia (CA) and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), are planning to take over world cricket.

Srinivasan said the proposed restructuring in the ICC is aimed at making the world body more financially stable and a more inclusive organisation. "The BCCI is quite happy to be involved with the leadership of cricket. We will embrace this ICC in the new structure, which will be good for cricket as a whole," Srinivasan told ESPNCricinfo.com.

If the proposals are accepted by the ICC Board when it meets in Singapore this month, BCCI will get the biggest chunk of revenue in the range of USD 63 million and USD 766 million.

No objections
Srinivasan maintained that all the member countries said that none of the other boards had objections to India's demand for a higher share. "A strong India with a vibrant commercial structure is good for world cricket," he said.

Srinivasan also said the BCCI would have never signed the Members Participating Agreement (MPA) in its existing form. "I don't know how it got signed. I would not have signed the last MPA. There are a lot of disadvantages. We had made it clear that we could not sign the MPA in the current form."

Srinivasan refused to explain what the "disadvantages" and said the issues were "substantial". "The other members in the committee realised that India's concerns were legitimate and therefore it led to a discussion, out of which all these proposals came," he said.

Asked if the Future Tours Programme (FTP) is scrapped, whether smaller members will be at the mercy of the bigger boards, Srinivasan said: "The current system is merely an indicative structure without any guarantees. It is not a legal document. The FTP bilateral agreement will be stronger. And we have already sat down during the Dubai meeting and discussed." 

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