BCCI to receive Lion's share; ICC reduces overseas players to four in franchise cricket to safeguard international cricket

The International Cricket Council (ICC) passed the revenue distribution model of international boards on Thursday, July 13, at its all-powerful board meeting in Durban. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will expectedly get the lion’s share of the revenue estimated to be around 38.4 percent, which is six times more than the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), and Cricket Australia (CA), who will be getting 6.89% and 6.25% of the share, respectively. Notably, the distribution model is set for the next four years by the apex cricketing governing body for international cricket.

Apart from this, in a revolutionary move, ICC has also restricted the number of overseas players allowed per playing XI to four in T20 leagues all across the globe. The move has been brought in to protect international cricket from the rapid growth of franchise T20 competitions all around the globe.

Notably, the International League T20 in the United Arab Emirates allowed nine overseas players per team while America’s Major League Cricket, set to begin on July 13, will permit nine in each squad and six in each playing XI.

Hence, as per the new rules, every team will have to field seven homegrown players or players from associate nations to support the development of the game with the remaining four slots available for foreign players. Apart from this, the T20 leagues will also have to pay a "solidarity fee" as a commission to the home board of every overseas player they’re signing.

ICC makes changes in Over-rate sanctions

The Chief Executives' Committee of the ICC also made changes to over-rate sanctions in Test cricket to balance the need for over-rates to be maintained while keeping in check the remuneration of the players.

Under the new law, players will be fined 5% of their match fee for each over short which will go to a maximum of 50%. Furthermore, if a team is bowled out before the new ball is due at 80 overs, there will be no over-rate penalty applied despite a slow over-rate being maintained by the team. Until now, the cap was on 60 overs which has now been increased to 20 overs more.