Chennai: BCCI president Shashank Manohar has come under strong criticism for his comments with regards to the constitutional revamp carried out at the ICC under the chairmanship of his predecessor N Srinivasan. The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) secretary K.S. Viswanathan has sent a strongly-worded email to Manohar and other key officials of the BCCI.
In the letter, Viswanathan asked Manohar whether he had told the ICC board that he was willing to dilute the BCCI stake on powerful committees of the world body and revise the contribution costs the BCCI was supposed to gain from the formula worked out by the Big Three, which was approved in 2014.
Manohar, who replaced Srinivasan as ICC chairman, has noted in the past few months that he does not agree with the Big Three boards — the BCCI, the ECB and CA — “bullying” the rest of the ICC.
At the last ICC board meeting in Dubai in January, Manohar suggested to the Full Members that the he would speak to the BCCI about the possibility of giving up about 6% of India’s 22% share of ICC revenues back to the world body. Manohar had made both these statements in a personal capacity.
Viswanathan questioned how Manohar could make such statements without having discussed and explained the reasons first to the BCCI members. “Is it true that you have made any statements in the ICC giving up BCCI’s permanent membership in the ICC Committees? Have you made any commitments to the ICC on BCCI’s share of contribution costs? If the answer to one or both of the above questions is in the affirmative, kindly let me know under what authority have you taken this decision when this matter has not been discussed in either the Working Committee meeting or the General Body meeting of BCCI held recently?”
