For the first time in 35 years, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be marked “absent” at the Annual General Meeting of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) to be held in Lahore on November 17.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which is the host, was looking forward to the BCCI’s presence at the AGM, especially with Ehsan Mani, elected PCB chairman on September 4, set to be officially declared as the ACC president.
BCCI acting-secretary Amitabh Choudhary − who is on the ICC board as director also features on the ACC Executive board − and BCCI CEO Rahul Johri − who is an invitee to the ACC board − will not be in Lahore.
ACC sources told Sportstar that the Committee of Administrators (CoA) has communicated to the acting-secretary that it’s not in favour of the BCCI attending the the ACC AGM citing the “current political climate” between India and Pakistan.
A former BCCI functionary said: "This is utter rubbish, the BCCI initiated the formation of the ACC. Has the Indian government shut down its High Commission in Islamabad? Has the Indian government denied permission to the BCCI? The government is going to grant visas to the Pakistan Hockey team (for the World Championship in Bhubaneswar in December). The CoA has no right to do this. Najam Sethi (former PCB Chairman) and Subhan Ahmed (COO, PCB), were given visas and they attended the ICC meeting in Kolkata this April..."
It was in September, 1983, that the cricket boards of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Singapore met in New Delhi and formed the Asian Cricket Conference. It was changed to Council in 1993.
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