BCCI not keen to accept ICC’s proposal regarding NOC to play T20 leagues

By Baidurjo Bhose

London, July 13 (IANS) The annual conference of the International Cricket Council (ICC) is set to start from July 15, a day after the World Cup final at Lord's, where a working group's proposal is set to be tabled related to the idea of non-contracted players across the world being able to play in T20 leagues sanctioned by the ICC without obtaining a no objection certificate (NOC) from their respective cricket boards.

However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is not too keen on the idea.

Speaking to IANS, a senior BCCI official said that at this point in time, it wasn't something that needed to be revised and the interest of the Indian board should be BCCI's priority.

"There is no need to alter BCCI's rules with regard to the participation of Indian players in foreign leagues at this stage as that might come at the cost of a financial impact on the board.

"If the rules for eligibility set by the ICC allows for the participation of Indian players without the permission of the BCCI, it would create a situation which is not only unnecessary, but will also have financial ramifications on the BCCI's revenue and consequently on the revenue of those players who are contracted," the official explained.

Another official said that this change of policy needed discussions within the Indian board before the idea is taken forward.

"This is a roundabout way to not only hit at BCCI revenues, but also the Indian Premier League (IPL). This needs more discussions as accepting this would shift policies. Agreeing to this would mean that we would be allowing a non-contracted player to participate in a tournament in the US, England or Australia but would not be permitting him to participate in a T20 league organised by a state cricket association. Prima facie this sounds inequitable," the official pointed out.

The senior official further hinted at the fact that there could be a clear case of conflict if reports of ICC COO Iain Higgins putting in his papers is indeed true.

"That ICC COO Iain Higgins has reportedly put in his papers and is set to take up the position of the CEO at the US cricket body further brings up the point that this proposal could be seen as a severe case of conflict of interest. And it is disgraceful that people in the ICC have not red flagged this conflict," he pointed out.

(Baidurjo Bhose can be contacted at baidurjo.b@ians.in)