Champions Trophy 2017: India absolutely must take part in tournament, says Ramachandra Guha

New Delhi: Ramachandra Guha, part of the four-member Committee of Administrators (COA), appointed by the Supreme Court to supervise the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Sunday tweeted in his personal capacity that India must take part in the ICC Champions Trophy.

“Speaking in my personal capacity, as a cricket fan, I believe the Indian cricket team absolutely must take part in the Champions Trophy,” read Guha’s tweet.

“Boycotting or threatening to boycott a prestigious international tournament does not become a great cricketing nation,” he further said.

The BCCI is yet to name the Champions Trophy squad and the deadline of April 25 has passed. The BCCI has called for an SGM on May 7 to decide its response after the loss of face in the Dubai meetings where every other full member Board backed the revamped revenue plan.

BCCI has not accepted ICC’s $400 million offer with their acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary saying it is not “anywhere even close” to the Indian board’s contribution to global cricket revenues.

Choudhary said the Indian market contributed 70 percent of the global cricket revenue and that it was natural for India to get the lion’s share.

The board is at loggerheads with the game’s world governing body over a revised revenue and administrative model, nullifying the 2014 Big Three plan pushed through by India under N. Srinivasan giving India, Australia and England the majority of global revenues.