BCCI in trouble, ICC 2023 ODI World Cup could move out of India: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) looks in deep trouble as there is a good possibility of it losing the hosting rights of the upcoming ICC ODI World Cup 2023. Recently, Ramiz Raja, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chair, has raised a query about whether the ICC is confident enough to host the next 50-over World Cup in India.
All this happened due to the underlying situation between India and Pakistan in the recent past. While it all began with Jay Shah, BCCI secretary, saying that the Indian side will not travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup 2023. In response to this, Ramiz Raja threatened to boycott the next 50-over World Cup in India if India doesn’t visit Pakistan for the Asia Cup.
The PCB head has also blamed the International Cricket Council (ICC) for not intervening in the matter and doing sufficient to bring both teams on the same page. He also accused the governing body for not ensuring smooth cricketing ties between India and Pakistan.
Further, in the latest development, Ramiz Raja has asked whether the ICC is certain to host the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 in India owing to tax-related issues.
Notably, when a country hosts a World Cup event, it has to provide ICC with tax exemptions from the ruling government. The last time when India hosted an ICC World Cup in 2016, ICC received an interim tax benefit to hold a 10.3% surcharge from India’s revenue share – for which the Indian cricket board is fighting a legal battle.
For the upcoming World Cup, which is supposed to be held in India, the ICC has again received an interim tax benefit, however, the BCCI isn’t too pleased with it.
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It’s important to note that, the Indian government didn’t give a tax benefit to ICC during the World Cup 2016. As a result, ICC deducted roughly INR 190 Crores from BCCI’s annual revenue share. If BCCI once again fails to solve the tax issue for the 2023 World Cup, it may end up losing a whopping sum of INR 900 Crores as the tax bill has been raised to 21.84%.
“It’s BCCI’s money. If the ICC can’t settle this issue before the World Cup arrives and end up deducting it from India’s revenue share from the ICC, even this will end up in a legal battle,” say those tracking developments.
The ICC has asked to solve the issue with the Indian government as soon as possible. If BCCI fails to do that, ICC will be left with a single choice of moving the 50-over World Cup out of India.
As per the ICC rules, the hosting nation has to provide tax exemptions from the ruling government for the World Cup.
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