Manohar deserted BCCI’s sinking ship for ICC post, says Thakur

Greater Noida, The war of words between the Indian cricket board (BCCI) and Shashank Manohar, the International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman, has become more serious and personal. BCCI president Anurag Thakur today launched a scathing attack on Manohar, saying that he had left BCCI in the lurch when it needed him the most.
Thakur blasted Manohar, his predecessor as BCCI president, for deserting the “sinking ship” (BCCI) in the wake of the reforms recommended by the Justice Lodha Committee.
“BCCI members feel that when BCCI needed Manohar the most as the president, he left us… Like a captain leaving the sinking ship,” Thakur said here. “We all know how the ICC constitution got changed again… Manohar was BCCI president and he did not take BCCI members into confidence about the changes,” Thakur said, suggesting that Manohar paved his own way to become ICC’s chairman. “The amendments were made and he became ICC’s independent chairman. This shows, in a way, he had this idea somewhere in his mind that he was looking to establish himself in ICC. He forced the amendments to get a position.”
Champions Trophy budget
ICC and BCCI are in conflict over the high budget allotted to the England and Wales Cricket Board for hosting the Champions Trophy next year, and the proposal to have two separate divisions in Test cricket.
BCCI has protested that the Champions Trophy budget of $135 million for the 19-day event, for 15 matches, is excessive. “If you compare the World T20 (held in India in March-April) and Champions Trophy budgets, it’s three times higher than the World T20,” Thakur said. “About the two-tier system, BCCI would have benefitted by joining hands with Australia and England, but we stood by countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe,” Thakur said. “But look at Manohar’s statement, that ‘who has the time to watch a five-day game’! If the ICC chairman feels like this, then it raises a big question mark on Test cricket.”
No to reforms
Thakur also talked about the “external pressure” on BCCI “at home” by the Justice Lodha Committee. “The BCCI was a global cricket leader till the Lodha Committee recommendations and the ICC regime,” he said. “But now we are not taken seriously anymore. ICC takes a decision on Nepal and Sri Lanka and doesn’t allow any outside interference, but when it comes to BCCI, the world body is completely mum.”
Thakur, yet again, opposed the Supreme Court-mandated reforms. “The reforms should not be forced upon us,” he said. “It should rather come as a guideline. But now that stage has passed and we are waiting for our review petition to be taken up by the Supreme Court.”