The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be represented by its president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah during the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting in Dubai on Tuesday.
The meeting will among other things decide on the venue for the Asia Cup, which is likely to be held in September.
Pakistan were the designated hosts but a change became necessary after some of the members, including India, refused to play there citing security concerns.
Pakistan, it is learnt, has agreed to host the tournament at a neutral venue. Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ehsan Mani has maintained that since it’s an ACC-organised event, they have the authority to decide on the venue after consultation among the members.
“Playing in Pakistan is out of the question... Sri Lanka and Bangladesh may have toured there recently but India’s presence is totally different,” a source had told The Telegraph recently.
Keeping in mind the T20 World Cup in Australia in October-November, the Asia Cup will also follow the same format this time. Like in 2018, the tournament could again be held in the UAE.
India are the defending champions.
Bangladesh Cricket Board chief Nazmul Hassan is the current president of the ACC.
This will be the first time Sourav and Jay Shah will attend an ACC meeting after taking charge in October. The BCCI still hasn’t decided who will be its representative at the International Cricket Council’s board meetings. Shah will be there at the chief executives’ committee meeting.
With the Supreme Court yet to hear on the BCCI plea for modifications to the Justice RM Lodha recommendations, it is still not clear who will be the representative.
Former ICC chairman N. Srinivasan is keen to attend the board meeting given his history with incumbent chief Shashank Manohar.
Under Manohar, the ICC disbanded the Big Three model designed by his predecessor Srinivasan, which would have put BCCI’s revenue at an estimated $440m across the eight-year cycle. The BCCI instead had to be satisfied with only $293m.
During the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators’ tenure, acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary and CEO Rahul Johri used to represent the BCCI at ICC meetings.
Selectors’ dilemma
With the BCCI dilly-dallying on the selectors’ issue, there is a possibility that the MSK Prasad-led panel could decide on the squad for the three ODIs versus South Africa at home.
The BCCI maintains that the replacements for Prasad and Gagan Khoda will be in place after the ACC meeting but that will leave very little room for the new committee to pick the squad before the first ODI on March 12.
Interestingly, Prasad is in Mumbai to witness a T20 tournament at the DY Patil Stadium where Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya are playing.
