Reports : Cricket Australia officials may visit India to resolve dispute with BCCI

As per reports, the Australian men’s team was to tour India for three ODIs in January 2020 owing to pressure from broadcasters. However, this period is the peak of Australian summer, and thereby, Cricket Australia (CA) was not very keen on playing an away series during this period.

In order to leverage their stand, the CA has decided not to send their three players Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry, and Alyssa Healy for the Women’s T20 Challenge, scheduled between May 6 and 11 in Jaipur. Earlier, an email from Belinda Clarke had also stated that they would consider the request from Board of Control for Cricket in India only if the issue of the bilateral men’s series was resolved.

This had miffed the BCCI and they even went on to term Belinda’s tactics as blackmailing and in bad taste. Nevertheless, as per the latest developments, the Sydney Morning Herald has reported that CEO Kevin Roberts and the Chairman might visit India in order to patch up the crucial relationship with India. The BCCI is a financial powerhouse and cricket is the most followed sport in India, thereby, straining relationships with the Indian governing body may prove costly for CA.

“Hostility with India is a dangerous proposition for CA, which is just getting back on its feet following last year’s ball-tampering crisis and which relies, like other cricket nations, so heavily on broadcast-rights revenue from the world’s second most populous country,” the report stated.

“Roberts had tentatively planned to travel to India next month and it now seems likely that trip will go ahead with Eddings in tow. Far from spoiling for a fight, the power imbalance with India means they might as well be turning up with their tails between their legs,” it added.