BCCI gets England, Australia, NZ on its side against hosting future ICC events: Report

The International Cricket Council (ICC) set March 15 as a deadline date for all member nations to submit their Expression of Interest (EOI) of hosting ICC events between 2023 and 2031. However, none of the respective boards from India, Australia or England responded to the same and declined to bid for hosting rights of any ICC event that falls within the aforementioned cricketing calendar. Additionally, respective boards from South Africa and New Zealand became the latest member countries to join the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in opposing the apex cricketing body.

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BCCI forms alliance as ‘Big 5’ oppose ICC

According to a report in an England-based news agency, Pakistan and West Indies are the only ICC member nations who have come forward with an EOI. A report in The Times of India indicates that BCCI officials including President Sourav Ganguly and other top board members are not happy with ICC’s proposal of staging future ICC events. The report also cited reasons as to why major cricket boards are keeping away from staging any ICC event in the near future.

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The summary indicated that BCCI along with all other full member boards want ICC to come up with the entire international bilateral series schedule before finalising any major event. The major member countries seemingly do not want to host any ICC World Cup tournament without confirming the knowledge of the entire bilateral Test, ODI and T20I tours set to be held in the same period. Headed by BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, Cricket Australia and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), certain countries are also opposing ICC’s idea of staging a global event every year. According to a detailed report in The Times of India, regular multi-nation tournaments could potentially decrease the value of winning the prestigious quadrennial 50-overs World Cup event.

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IPL 2020 and ICC T20 World Cup updates

Meanwhile, the highly-anticipated IPL 2020 was recently postponed by BCCI in wake of the contagious coronavirus pandemic. The entire international schedule is currently halted as several countries are under lockdown. The ICC T20 World Cup, scheduled to be staged later this year in Australia, also looks clouded with much uncertainty due to the coronavirus outbreak.

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