BCCI not pleased with the $135 m budget allotted for the CT 2017

The International Cricket Council (ICC) proposed an approximate budget of $ 135 million for organizing the Champions Trophy 2017 in the United Kingdom. The tournament that will feature the top 8 One-Day International teams in the ICC Rakings as on the cut-off date will be played in June next year. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has expressed its reservations about the budget that has been allotted since it is three times of the $ 45 million that was passed on to the BCCI for conducting the World T20 2016 in India.

When a country is picked to host a particular ICC event, the international body provides them a certain budget. The board on its part appoints a LOC (Local Organising Committee), which takes care of all the expenditures during the course of the tournament.

The World T20 that the BCCI hosted earlier this year spanned 27 days and witnessed 58 matches which constituted of 35 men’s and 23 women’s matches. Whereas the Champions Trophy will be a 19-day event and only 15 matches will be played the comparative difference in the number of days and matches against the hike in the budget hasn’t gone down well with a lot of people in the BCCI.

On its part, the ICC circulated the draft budget for Champions Trophy 2017 for a review to all the members at the ICC Annual Conference held in Edinburgh in May-June. In its response to the same, the BCCI has sent a letter to the ICC “expressing their reservations about the budget”. With the Indian board’s objection, it is expected that the issue will be discussed on the sidelines of the ICC Chief Executives meeting in Dubai on September 6 and 7.

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PTI quoted a senior BCCI official saying, “It is strange but when the ICC World T20 was held in India, the BCCIorganised a tournament of longer duration at 1/3rd cost.

“Even if we take into account that the costs will be more in UK as expenditure will be in GBP (Pounds) but in India, there are more overheads including logistics as you need to take flights from one city to another which is not the case in England.”

It is also reported that the ICC is willing to construct a new office in London ahead of the tournament which will be later handed over to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

“Every member has right to ask as to why all members should pay for office of one member. Looking at the far bigger picture, every penny saved is every penny earned. This money should be used judiciously for development of cricket.”

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