The Board of Control has given indian teams’ participation in the Olympics and Commonwealth Games conditional approval for Cricket in India following its Apex Council’s meeting on Friday.
If the Indian cricket board’s autonomy is unthreatened, it will allow the men’s as well as the women’s teams to take part in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
BCCI has historically been wary of the Indian teams’ Olympics participation as it has feared over the possible influence of the Indian Olympic Association in its regular functioning. But the stance seems to have been relaxed at a condition of the board’s autonomy being preserved.
And thus, while the board members have shown the green signal with regards to the Olympics in 2028 and the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, they’ll still remain in consultation with a few of the sports association that didn’t have any IOA impact in their workings.
“We do not want to be bossed over by the IOA, that is the bottom line. We will seek clarity on the roles. The participation is subject to the BCCI’s identity and independence not being compromised,”
a BCCI source told Cricbuzz.
If India participates in an Olympics cricket event, it’ll positively influence the game globally. At a time when a lot of the member countries are struggling for survival in terms of finance and funding, they’ll be set for extra money being put into cricket by their governments and the International Olympics Committee. Ireland, a struggling Test nation, for example, might just be better placed to secure their resources and fixtures across formats with that money.
Pakistan to participate in the T20 World Cup
The board has got the approval for visas of the Pakistan team for the Twenty20 World Cup to be held in India in October-November. The Indian Home Ministry will also be taking a call on the permission for the Pakistan fans to enter the country, which was another demand made by the Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ehsan Mani.
The BCCI will remain in consultation with the Foreign, Home and Finance Ministries on various issues regarding Pakistan’s T20 World Cup participation. But it is understood that the board is informed the neighbours won’t face any issues in featuring at the marquee tournament this winter.
At various International Cricket Council (ICC) meetings, PCB chief Mani has been demanding that besides the national men’s team, Pakistan media and fans should also have no trouble travelling to India for the T20 World Cup. The team and the media are already cleared for the tournament, but the fans’ entry is undecided, given the health safety issue involved in the coronavirus pandemic.
Domestic and Women’s Cricket
The issue around domestic cricket in India was also dealt with by the BCCI Apex Council. The initial plan was to conduct the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 tournament in September-October and the Vijay Hazare Trophy in November. Not being staged at all the previous winter, India’s premier domestic first-class competition – the Ranji Trophy – will be played from January-March 2022. The U-19 competition for the Cooch-Behar Trophy will be held from November to January.
The Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), comprising of Madan Lal, RP Singh and Sulakshana Naik, will be picking the next women’s team head coach, with the rest of the support staff selected by the women selectors.
Permissions for state T20 leagues
The BCCI has also given permission to state associations with regards to their own T20 leagues. Associations from Mumbai, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Saurashtra had requested the board to organise their state-level T20 leagues.
Previously, the BCCI gave a green signal to leagues like the TNPL and KPL. But the permission was withdrawn following corruption allegations on these leagues.
“As long as they are not around the IPL and all anti-corruption and BCCI norms are followed, they can conduct the leagues,”
the source said in the Cricbuzz report.
