BCCI confirms India's participation in Champions Trophy 2017

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed that the Indian team will take part in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2017. The BCCI SGM came up with the call to let the team defend their title in England in the ICC mega event. The Special General Meeting (SGM) was the much-awaited event for the cricket pundits and board members as the outcome of it would have decided the future of the team in the ICC global events.

The meeting took place in Delhi in the early hours on May 7 (Sunday). The final conclusion drawn out of the meeting was in the favor of India’s participation in the CT 2017. Among the notable mentions present at the meeting were Sourav Ganguly, CK Khanna, Amitabh Choudhary, and Rajiv Shukla. Rajiv Shukla, who is the current IPL head, noted that the decision to let India play the tournament was a unanimous one.

The entire scene dates back to the ICC meeting that was called to decide on the new revenue model of the ICC. The BCCI wanted to continue with the old model wherein the ‘big three’ (CA, ECB, and BCCI) shared the major part of the ICC revenues. However, all other boards agreed upon the new revenue model that proposed an equal sharing of revenues.

This meant that the BCCI’s share came down drastically to almost half of the revenue it was fetching earlier. The miffed Indian board threatened to pull out from the ICC Champions Trophy as a result of the same. However, the Committee of Administrators (CoA) appointed by the Supreme Court of India ordered the BCCI to take a decision that does not compromise on the interests of the sport in the country.

Hence, the SGM was called and the decision has turned out to be in the favor of India’s participation. Team India will start their title defense on June 4 with their first match being against arch rivals Pakistan.