Ravi Shastri warns other boards not to take advantage of BCCI's present mess

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been facing a truck load of changes in the recent past. Their tussle with the Supreme Court and the Lodha Committee resulted in a plethora of changes being incorporated in the functioning of the board. The BCCI, the most powerful cricket board in the world, saw itself in total mess because of this upheaval.

Amidst all the brouhaha, the board suddenly saw the other country boards trying to take advantage of the mess in the BCCI at present. Former Indian cricketer Ravi Shastri was absolutely miffed with this. The commentator, as per the quotes in Times of India, has warned the other boards that the current fiasco in the board will not last long.

He apparently targeted the cricket boards of England, South Africa, Pakistan and New Zealand. He further noted that India and the BCCI are the biggest revenue generators of the cricket world. Thus they have every right to demand for their extra share at the ICC meetings. He said that he is happy that the BCCI representatives made their points clear at the recent ICC meet.

“My warning to such people is: beware… This state of flux will not last for long. BCCI will be back where they belong very very soon. And that is why it is important that the BCCI stresses on the issues at hand. I was very pleased that the committee that went to Dubai for the ICC meeting really took up the issue with the ICC board. (Vikram) Limaye, Anirudh (Chaudhry) and Amitabh (Choudhary) – I’m glad they made the BCCI’s reservations very clear. In my mind, India deserve every penny that they get from ICC tournaments, simply because they are the Pied Pipers of world cricket,” quoted Ravi Shastri.

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The other cricket boards have often claimed that BCCI has been a bully in the ICC. Shastri ridiculed this idea by calling it absolute bull****. He again reiterated that if BCCI is generating the maximum revenue, then it has every right to claim for their extra share. He was happy the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) stood by BCCI corner in the meeting. However, he was disappointed with the fact that Zimbabwe and Bangladesh went against the BCCI in the meeting. He also conceded that his support for BCCI is not for the monetary gains that he gets from the board.

“Something like 80% of revenues for these tournaments come from India. Then to say that India is the bully, because they are asking for extra share, is the biggest load of bullshit I’ve heard. I say this because the BCCI is not asking for 80%, they’re asking for a much lower percentage. They have every right to. You take India out of the equation, I’d like to see what kind of revenue will be left,” the former Indian cricketer said.

“That’s bul****. I’ve worked all around the world. If I am something today it is because of the opportunities the BCCI gave me, but not as a commentator. It is what the BCCI did for me as a player, a cricketer, people should get that clear in their minds. That is the most important role of a cricket board,” Ravi Shastri concluded.