"I Have Not Written That Letter": Amitabh Choudhary On BCCI Missive To ICC

Indian cricket board's acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary on Monday washed his hands off the BCCI letter that urged the ICC and its member nations to sever ties with countries which harbour terror. The BCCI's request was turned down by the International Cricket Council (ICC), saying it has no role to play in matters like these. Choudhary, asked at the press conference to announce Tata Motors' Harrier as IPL's official partner, whether it was a mistake not to have named Pakistan specifically in the letter, said," I have not written the letter."

The letter to the ICC, in the aftermath of the deadly terror attack in Pulwama that killed 40 CRPF personnel and for which Pakistan-based Jaish-E-Mohammed took responsibility, was framed by BCCI CEO Rahul Johri in consultation with the Committee of Administrators (CoA).

"The chairman of the ICC (Shashank Manohar) has made a statement to address the issue and he has simply said that it is a matter which is beyond ICC's domain," said Choudhary.

"I would like to put everything to rest that there is no difference of opinion. There was a written communication by the BCCI CEO with the ICC. There were two points in that communication – the first point related to the security and well being of the players and of the fans also," he said when asked whether the BCCI had erred in making this proposal.

Citing contents of the letter, Choudhary said the BCCI's primary concern ahead of the 2019 World Cup is players' security.

"The second matter related to suggesting that India and other members of the ICC take no part with teams which comes from areas where certain phenomenon emanate from, but the letter didn't mention which areas.

"To which the ICC chairman, after discussing it with the Board which is the only policy making body of the ICC, stated that it is not within the domain of the ICC to make a comment or make a decision.

"The BCCI''s concerns were, as I said, primarily, according to the letter, security concerns relating to players and fans which the ICC has wholeheartedly agreed to address. And the ECB representative Colin Grave was of the same view," he added.

The acting secretary said resolving the conflict between BCCI and the World Anti Doping Agency was an urgent matter to ensure that the ICC is not declared non-compliant by WADA.

"That is an issue. The world body (WADA) has been in dialogue with ICC for some time and the issue is that all participating nations in the ICC must align with the national testing authority.

"The only member of the ICC which has so far resisted it, and for reasons well known, is the BCCI and therefore there is a slight urgency on that matter. The ICC has been informed and the ICC chairman is of the view that he will soon have a dialogue with the BCCI itself considering the urgency of the matter least the ICC be declared non compliant."

He said the selectors are working on the workload schedule of key Indian ODI players in view of the 2019 World Cup that immediately follows IPL 2019 from May 30.

"At this stage, it is not proper to divulge but we also have the selectors working on this," he said when asked whether the IPL franchises had agreed to the plan in principle.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Team BCCI International Cricket Council Cricket