In case you are wondering if this is a déjà vu, it is as a matter of fact. The only difference that the resistance for the tournament tentatively postponed to next year is already facing opposition and it is one neighbour who is making more than the others.
Before it is assumed that it is a case of a bitter neighbour bearing its fangs, it has to be remembered that India supported Champions Trophy in Pakistan and refused to participate if the alternate venue was decided upon by the ICC. The opposition then is now to playing in Pakistan but about the timing of the Champions Trophy slated to be held next year.
Speaking on behalf of the BCCI, Niranjan Shah has categorically ruled out India’s participation in the Champions Trophy in October, 2009 giving the one day series against Australia in the same time frame greater degree of priority. Stating the inconvenience of rescheduling of the fixture, India is opposing the Champions Trophy being staged in the same time interval. But this comes as little surprise with the ICC announcing the timing of the tournament taking into little consideration of the matters that were likely to crop with a year to deliberate over, sending the prestigious but sham faced tournament to the backburner on most board agendas.
But the dissensions are coming from other fronts as well. Ehsan Mani, the former ICC President, is reported to have told several media persons that he was of the view that the ICC stood to lose more revenue by not making a call earlier knowing of the reservations from several quarters. In fact he went further to state that Pakistan should have taken the initiative and requested the ICC to look for an alternate venue and settled for staging another event in the forthcoming future.
There is no seeing eye to eye on this subject and once again the Champions Trophy stands trapped between poor formatting and politiking. How this ICC project will survive without the respect speaks volumes of the way the ICC itself is being manhandled, rather allowing itself to be manhandled, for issues that should be out of jurisdiction of the boards.
