For the "first time in a long time," the "all-powerful" Board of Control for Cricket in India "saw itself sidelined by other member boards" of the Int'l Cricket Council at the recent annual conference of the game's governing body in Edinburgh early this month, according to K. Shriniwas Rao of the TIMES OF INDIA. The BCCI proposed the idea of an annual overseas Indian Premier League in September. The idea, the BCCI suggested, "was to take its most lucrative domestic tournament abroad to cater to the vast Indian diaspora and in the process, enhance its financial muscle." Four cricket boards -- Cricket Australia, West Indies Cricket Board, England Cricket Board and Cricket South Africa -- reportedly "categorically opposed the BCCI's idea." While BCCI "had been busy looking at ways to push the overseas IPL," the ICC has been in talks with Star TV to again make the World T20 a "once in-two-years affair." This could be the first time in close to two decades that a BCCI proposal in the int'l circuit "has been turned down." Sources close to the developments are "trying to figure out if the snub could be a sign of things to come." A source said, "If true, it's a telling sign of the reduced clout the current set of administrators (in the board) wield, unlike their predecessors. It's also a personal embarrassment for the men running the BCCI right now." The overseas IPL was planned as a replacement to the T20 Champions League "but the latter was financially a more viable option" for Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa because of the fee they were earning from the broadcasters to participate in the tournament (TIMES OF INDIA, 7/16).
