The world of cricket is "struggling between three formats and their historical and financial relevance could find itself divided by revenue lines very soon," according to K. Shriniwas Rao of CRICBUZZ. Unperturbed by "threats of a recession in the cricket's TV rights industry," the BCCI "is sitting pretty even as Cricket Australia, England Cricket Board and Cricket South Africa have decided to come together and change the rules of the game." On Friday, reports emerged that the three boards of the ICC "were planning to bring about a major financial shift in international cricket by pushing to sell overseas TV rights in a collective bundle overseen by a new, independent body." If that happens, industry experts "foresee a turf battle in the rights industry very soon, with India alone pitted against almost every other ICC member board capable of building up any kind of a financial muscle." A cricket industry exec said, "India seem to be the only country right now which is not worried about its rights being sold and therefore they will not play ball with anyone else. So in that sense, it is India against the rest" (CRICBUZZ, 9/10). In Mumbai, Sanjjeev K. Samyal wrote the BCCI "remained unconcerned by the decision" and "is not buying into the concept of all cricket boards coming together and selling the broadcast rights for bilateral Test series as a block." BCCI Secretary Ajay Shirke "was dismissive of the idea." BCCI "is not amused by the talk of downturn in the Indian market by the acquisition of Ten Sports by Sony." Shirke: "The claim that only two major broadcasters are left is not correct. They (ECB, Cricket Australia) have quite a few for them with Sky Sports, BBC, Channel Nine apart from Star and Sony" (HINDUSTAN TIMES, 9/11).
'SINKING SHIP': CRICBUZZ's Aayush Puthran reported with the ICC set to reduce the BCCI's share in its revenue, BCCI President Anurag Thakur "has voiced his disappointment." He "vowed to not let go of a 'single percent' share of the revenue and stated that the good health of BCCI is important for the well being of global cricket." On Saturday, the BCCI president said that "the new ICC regime is trying to sideline the BCCI, one of the most important stakeholders in global cricket today." He went on to question the motives of ICC Chair Shashank Manohar, equating him to "a captain leaving a sinking ship before other members," while mentioning that BCCI is being arm-twisted by both the ICC and the Lodha committee (CRICBUZZ, 9/11).
BCCI INVITATIONS: THE HINDU reported the BCCI "invited applications from candidates wanting to become National selectors." According to the announcement, the candidate "should have represented the Indian team either in a Test match or a One Day International or more than 50 first class matches in India." For the junior panel, the candidate "should have played more than 50 first class matches in India to be considered for a position" (THE HINDU, 9/10).
