BCCI’s acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhury was present in Kolkata during the first Test between India and Sri Lanka and he revealed that BCCI is finding ways of dodging arch-rivals Pakistan in the nine-team Test league.
However, recent reports suggest that the Indian board will meet sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on Wednesday to discuss the potential inclusion of a series against Pakistan in the Future Tours Programme (FTP) as part of the upcoming ICC Test Championship.
The ICC Test Championship has been approved by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in order to bring context and meaning to bilateral cricket.
While the government has opposed bilateral ties with Pakistan, it has always given the go-ahead when it comes to ICC events. In fact, the Champions Trophy saw the two teams fight it out in the final with Pakistan ending winners. Talking about the same, BCCI treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhry said, “In any world competition or championship, if say 20 teams play, it is not possible to play each team against each other. The problem is not having a series between India and Pakistan is something which affects international cricket to a large extent.”
He further added, “So nothing can really be planned out factoring the consequences of that situation. That’s being looked after. As I said, it is not necessary to play each and every team in a championship.”
Ahead of the December 1 SGM in New Delhi, Chaudhry had written a letter to acting president CK Khanna and the acting secretary, asking them to share the FTP plans before the scheduled SGM. He said, “Record my statement nobody is in the dark, all members of the Board will be sent notice of the SGM along with relevant papers on each of the agenda points. As far as writing letter is concerned, it’s Constitution of India that has given rights to everyone to express. About not being in the loop, it’s not a fact. Papers can’t be circulated in a vacuum once the agenda is specified, it will be done when the time is right.”
The Test championship will see nine teams play six series over the span of 2 years — three home and three away — with each having a minimum of two Tests and a maximum of five and all matches being played over five days climaxing in a World Test League Championship Final.
