With the Champions trophy having completed a few weeks ago, we have already moved on in the world of cricket with the NZ and Pakistan bilateral already started and the IPL due to start today arguably a bigger ticket in some people’s eyes than the champions trophy itself

Over the course of the champions trophy, there were many off field topics which kept making the rounds on social and online media. Starting from India’s go no go decision to Pakistan, favouritism for India with the Dubai base and of course the scheduling chaos post the semi finals. What’s the common thread here, the Indian cricket team of course. I was trigged to write this blog after reading a post from the BBC last week, which made me sit back and really think how India centric these tournaments are?

Over the last few years there have been clamours that things are unfair, and all ICC tournaments favour India, so what’s the gist of it? Is this coming from a place of concern, or certain sections of the media in some nations crying foul due to frustrations of their own team?

The Commercial Landscape

The obvious truth for the world of cricket is that without India, commercially it will not make money or at least not to the scale it currently does today. Some interesting numbers to ponder over, the latest broadcasting deal struck by the ICC for the years 2024-27 is worth approx. $750 Mn a year but BCCIs latest IPL deal for its local domestic competition is worth more than $1.2Bn a year from 2023-27. In terms of the revenue earned by the ICC it is estimated anywhere between 70-80% is generated from the Indian market. Even when it comes to franchise cricket IPL teams have stakes in most of the franchise tournaments including SA20, CPL, ILT20, The Hundred and the MLC.

What’s been the uproar?

Tournament Logistics – From the world cup in 2023 where India were accused of loading pitches in their favour in the semi final, pre choosing their semi final slot in 2024 T20 world cup due to broadcasting times and of course we have been through “home” advantage in Dubai. India lost the final in 2023 as they were outplayed by Australia, I dare say had they won it we would have heard the whole narrative of everything in India’s favour, but it didnt matter when they lost? In the champions trophy honestly the Pakistani players and many of the other countries have played more in Dubai historically than India, yes they were well rested and logistics for the semi final and final were a joke, but without a shadow of a doubt the best team won.

I will however say that unless we have a situation where a tournament is hosted in Pakistan or India and we know each country cant travel to the other, knockout scheduling should not be pre determined. ICC should have all timings the same but not pre determine the scheduling to maintain fairness for all countries.

Revenue Distribution – BCCI gets 38.5% of the revenue from the ICC net earnings with the next largest being the ECB at 6.9%. On the face of it, it seems lopsided. However given nearly 80% of this revenue is generated in the Indian market, perhaps they do deserve it.

However some observers will say BCCI earns even more through its own domestic tournament the IPL, that they should redistribute more of its ICC allocation to the other boards especially ones struggling to make ends meet such as PCB, CWI etc. I do think this is something which should be revisited in the next cycle.

Is the uproar very English?

There is a section of ex Indian cricketers and commentators who imply that the English cricket fraternity are upset at the new world order in cricket with India leading it on and off the field, and the media are a bunch of moaners!

Whether its the BBC, Hussain, Vaughan and Atherton they didn’t leave a stone unturned when mentioning India’s advantage of staying in one location for the champions trophy in every interview. But by that logic England should have won at least two of their games given they were in the same location. Also lets not forget home advantage doesn’t equal victory, else England would have won 5 50 over world cups by now.

Things have always been a bit on edge with these two countries whether it was the Deepti Sharma mankad incident and the fall out with even the likes of stokes getting involved. Or the more recent concussion substitute fiasco in the recently concluded series.

I don’t think it can be said for sure that there is bitterness in the English fraternity towards the new world order. They have been used to being the dominant force until about 20 or so years ago, but there is definitely an edge to proceedings between the two nations which is what excites me about this rivalry in cricket.

So what ?

Personally I think, due to the commercial power and implications India will long lead the commercial returns for the game of cricket for decades to come and as long as its growing the game such as entry into LA28 Olympics, and developing countries get the support I don’t see any issues, but the ICC needs to do more with respect to revenue redistribution. India has earned the right to be rewarded its due, but ICC needs to ensure the governance of the game remains subjective and without partiality, which may or may not be happening today.

In ICC tournaments i think the scheduling should be impartial especially for knockout games and that is something the ICC should ensure moving forwards.

When it comes to the uproar of the English media, I personally love the needle, between the inventors and initial custodians vs the new kings of the game who threaten to run away with it. The Test series this summer is going to be one for the ages!

As cricket lover and Indian fan, I want to see a fair sport which is prospering and growing globally which needs the Indian commercial push and the unwavering obsession of its cricket loving public. I see parallels with football where the English Premier league is the golden child, but there are still other credible and commercially viable products like La Liga, Bundesliga etc. If tournaments like the hundred, the Big Bash can start to generate more interest and the global game strengthens its central governance to keep the game fair, cricket can continue to stay a global phenomenon.