Indian Cricket Team To Take Part In Champions Trophy, BCCI Not To Send Legal Notice To World Body

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday unanimously decided that the Indian cricket team will participate in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2017 set to be held in England and Wales, starting June 1. The selection meeting to pick the squad for the ICC event will be held on Monday, May 8, in New Delhi. Also, softening its previous stand against the International Cricket Council (ICC), the Indian board decided not to send a legal notice to the world body, calling it a conciliatory approach. 

Current joint secretary Amitabh Choudhary has been tasked with negotiating with the ICC on behalf of the BCCI while keeping its legal options open.

"The Board unanimously authorized the acting Hony. Secretary of the BCCI to continue negotiations with the ICC in the best interest of the BCCI while keeping its legal options open," the BCCI said in a press release.
 
"The BCCI SGM unanimously decided that the Indian cricket team will participate in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy. The All-India Senior Selection Meeting will be held tomorrow, May 8, in New Delhi to pick the team," the Indian board added.

"Happy that BCCI took the decision to play. Had assured Virat Kohli and Anil Kumble that the team will travel, but the process will take some time. BCCI should concentrate more on the governance model, less on revenue," said Committee of Administrators (CoA) head Vinod Rai

"100 million extra is good enough. The rest they can make up by playing bilateral series. They have lost out on the negotiations over governance structure. They should have concentrated more on that," he added.

"The ICC welcomes the unanimous decision from the BCCI Special General Meeting this morning to confirm the participation of defending champions India in next month's Champions Trophy. The hundreds of millions of cricket fans around the world just want to see good cricket and now we can all look forward to a superb event in England and Wales starting on 1 June," ICC said in a statement.

"It was a unanimous decision that the Indian team will be participating in the Champions Trophy. We will not take any legal recourse in the matter. Mr Amitabh Choudhary and CEO Rahul Johri will negotiate with ICC," a senior office-bearer told PTI.

Former president N Srinivasan attended the SGM via Skype but refrained from speaking about a pull-out after gauging the general mood. 

The BCCI was earlier mulling to pull its team out of the premier tournament in protest against the revised revenue module.

BCCI lost the vote on 'governance and constitutional changes' on April 26 by a 1-9 margin while the revenue model, which was the bigger bone of contention, saw India getting walloped by a 2-8 margin.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court-appointed CoA had directed the BCCI to convene a selection committee meet and announce the Indian squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 "immediately".

The CoA asked BCCI's Amitabh Choudhary why the team has not yet been selected despite April 25 being the deadline.

The CoA also questioned the manner in which BCCI negotiated the entire revenue model deal with the International Cricket Council (ICC) at a meet held in Dubai recently.

(With Inputs from Rica Roy and PTI)