BCCI hires the UK law firm for the legal battle against the ICC after being prepared to not participate in the Champions Trophy

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is believed to have now hired a leading law firm based in the United Kingdom to prepare its legal notice to be sent to the International Cricket Council (ICC). The BCCI have made two calls, one to its legal team and the other to the various state units.

It has also drafted a notice which cites the violation of a contract, known as the Members Participation Agreement (MPA), and are all set to ignore the ICC mega-event Champions Trophy. BCCI, claims that the ICC and the Board members of ICC have dishonoured the MPA by allowing a change in the revenue model, and the various policy changes in the governance model without its agreement.

“The question here is not about whether BCCI should be sending the notice or not. A notice will be sent as per the legal norms because it is certainly a violation of an existing contract. The question is, are we prepared for repercussions post sending the notice,” a senior cricket administrator was quoted by TOI.

Earlier in the month, the ICC in its board meeting at Dubai had the BCCI outvoted 13-1 on the newly proposed financial model. The current ICC chairman Shashank Manohar too went against the previous model which was in favour of the BCCI. The MPA was signed back in the year 2014 when N Srinivasan was the chairman of the ICC and registered in the UK courts of law.

In further issues, the board must go to the United Kingdom for a resolution to the dispute. If the BCCI should invoke the MPA, it has to send a notice to the ICC stating the reason and give the governing body at least 30 days for a response.

A legal expert, however, stated to TOI, “the time frame can be a shorter one in cases like this” with the Champions Trophy set to begin on June 1.

However, at the moment it looks like India will not back away from playing the Champions Trophy, but will field a weaker side consisting of the Second XI in the prestigious event hosted by the ICC. This would automatically strengthen BCCI’s decision to go against the ICC’s new revenue model and its revenue implications on the Indian board.