ICC agrees to bear the burden; US, Namibia, Pak get events too; Ganguly chairman of cricket committeeNEW DELHI: World cricket is headed to the United States of America. The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday awarded the hosting rights of the T20
World Cup
in 2024 to West Indies and USA. Namibia will also get to play co-host with South Africa and Zimbabwe for the 2027 ODI World Cup. The move could firm up ICC’s bid to get cricket into the Olympics for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
The Indian cricket board (BCCI) has managed to acquire rights of three events — 2026 T20 World Cup (with Sri Lanka), 2029 Champions Trophy and 2031 ODI World Cup (with Bangladesh).
BCCI also found a way to save around USD 200 million as ICC decided to bear the tax exemption denied by the Indian government.
Pakistan will get to host an ICC event after 29 years with the Champion Trophy 2025. The 2009 Champions Trophy was moved out of the country to South Africa for security reasons.
USA has hosted some T20I matches between India and West Indies at Fort Lauderdale in 2016 and 2019. However, this will be a major boost for USA cricket as their national team will get a direct entry into the tournament. But Namibia will have to go through qualification because only full members of ICC get automatic qualification in the World Cup.
“The hosts were selected via a competitive bidding process overseen by a board sub-committee chaired by
Martin Snedden (NZC chairman) along with Sourav Ganguly (BCCI president) and
Ricky Skerritt
(CWI president),” an ICC statement said.
The return of a major cricket tournament to Pakistan is good news. Now it's up to Imran Khan and company to create an atmosphere of safety and security over the next three years and demonstrate that the ICC has not erred in showing confidence in them.
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In another big development, BCCI has got a major relief with the ICC agreeing to bear the tax burden of the Indian board which does not get them 10 per cent tax exemption from the Indian government. The ICC will bear the damages for the three ICC events allotted to India in the 2024-2031 cycle.
TOI understands this will help BCCI save at least US$200 million (Rs 1500 crore) over the course of three ICC events. The board is slated to incur a loss of around $100 million (Rs 750 crore) for hosting the 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2023 ODI World Cup. The loss could have swelled to $150 million if the recent T20 World Cup was played in India and not UAE.
According to sources, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah brought up the issue in the ICC board meeting and claimed it was unfair on BCCI to lose out on such a huge amount for no fault of theirs. “Every other cricket board gets tax exemptions from their government. But BCCI can’t expect the central government to bend its laws for us. Hence, all the members felt that the ICC should bear the damages. Anyway, BCCI generates the heaviest revenues by hosting events in India. The BCCI will not have to suffer any cuts from the ICC’s revenue pool,” a top BCCI official told TOI on Tuesday.
Ganguly replaces Kumble as cricket committee chairmanIn another development, Ganguly has been elected as the chairman of the ICC’s cricket committee after Anil Kumble completed nine years in the post. Ganguly has been elevated from being the observer in the committee. The cricket committee oversees the playing conditions and regulations of the game.
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