Debunking suggestions that the Indian cricket board and ICC were not on the same page vis-a-vis conduct of the World T20 Championship in March-April next, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said that the Board was looking forward towards hosting a successful tournament.
“There is no such difference between the BCCI and the ICC. We have to work very closely because the BCCI has entered into a host agreement with the ICC to host the ICC T20 World Cup. So, whatever decision is taken by the ICC it has to be implemented on ground with the BCCI as host country,” said Thakur after the BCCI’s 86th AGM today.
He also said that the tournament would be conducted in eight centres.
“In the Barbados meeting of ICC, it was decided to have eight centres. So the fixtures would be ready and announced by the ICC soon. The details will be cleared by the ICC and we will be meeting them soon,” he said.
Enough time to decide on West Indies matches
BCCI president Shashank Manohar said, “It will take its time,” when asked about the World T20 draw.
On revival of matches against the West Indies, after the latter was forced to cancel its visit to India last year due to players’ unrest, Manohar said there was still a lot of time to decide on the issue.
“There is still plenty of time to go and play in West Indies. We will decide at the appropriate time. They met us recently... the CEO of the West Indies Board and the chairman of the West Indies Board. They have given their viewpoint. We will take a call,” said the BCCI chief.
Asked about former captain Sourav Ganguly’s presence in the BCCI posts and his TV commentary duties, Manohar said that as far as there was no commercial interest in the Board, there was no problem.
“He is not doing commentary but he can pursue whatever profession he wants. The conflict would arise if he has a commercial interest in the Board because we can’t stop him from pursuing his profession. I am a lawyer and I can’t be told I should not practice, what can be told to me I should not appear in Board cases.”
Both Manohar and Thakur remained mum and smiled for a while when asked whether there were deliberations on Anil Kumble’s conflict of interest, before the latter said “Yes,” without elaborating what the conflict of interest was.
Kumble is no longer the chairman of the technical committee and has been replaced by Ganguly.
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