BCCI Sole Breadwinner For Cricket World Post Coronavirus

With empty coffers, countries line up to BCCI for bailout; Team India may see a busy cricket calendar as Pak likely to be worst hit.

Photo: AFP

New Delhi: Coronavirus may have hit the cricketing world very hard but it certainly has cleared all doubts over who will be the boss in world cricket going forth. With as many as six out of 10 Test members almost bankrupt and franchise cricket reeling under losses, the BCCI and the IPL brand has emerged as the sole hope for the cricketing world to bail them out. Come Thursday at the online ICC Chief Executive meeting, most member boards are likely to make a beeline with their request to BCCI to play a full series with them to bail out of cash issues. The members are also likely to pitch for the scrapping of the FTP ( Future Tours Programme ) which forces them to play other member boards and also follow a fixed schedule. Team India is likely to brace up for an extremely busy international calendar once international restrictions are lifted with England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies and Sri Lanka already having made requests for a series with India. Except for BCCI, none of the member boards can hold out for an entire year without playing cricket while the Indian board will still be in surplus. Pakistan Cricket Board and Bangladesh along with Zimbabwe and Ireland are likely to be the most hit and may argue against scrapping of FTP since no member is likely to play them in absence of any lucrative broadcasting or sponsorship deal. Meanwhile, efforts are also on to suspend the inaugural ICC Test Championship and members may seek a postponement of the tournament in view of disruption of the international calendar. Several boards are also likely to look towards lucrative T20 series to make up for the lost revenue. The Chief executive will also be debating on the feasibility of holding the T20 World Cup as scheduled in October November but any call on it will not be taken now. Although the discussion of holding IPL as an alternate to World Cup in that window is not part of the official discussion, it is believed that there might be casual touching base with member boards for their support. While BCCI has always been a major contributor in the revenue stream and has constantly fought with the ICC for a. A lion share of its profits --- something which other boards and the ICC top brass has resented, the Coronavirus and subsequent economic recession may well reset India's dominance in world cricket, at least off the field.