Dave Richardson confirms ICC don’t want to interfere in IPL operations

The ICC, in the last meeting, decided to form an ‘events sanctioning group’ with Chief Operating Officer (COO) Iain Higgins and media rights head Aarti Singh Dabas so as to monitor various T20 leagues all around the world including the IPL. ToI had reported that Rahul Johri complained against it saying it would create a different sort of problem for the BCCI if the board decide to let ICC interfere in a “domestic T20 league”. Richardson came out to state that the ICC doesn’t have any business in the IPL’s operation, and the whole discussion has been blown out of proportion by the media.

"We are fortunate to have some outstanding T20 leagues, including the IPL, which set the gold standard for operations globally and this Working Group has taken into account those standards when developing the draft set of regulations. Our primary objective is to ensure other leagues around the world put in place the same minimum criteria and operate within a consistent framework," Richardson said in a statement, reported ToI.

"Reports in the media that the ICC is somehow seeking to interfere in or dictate to the IPL are wide of the mark. That is not the case. As the Chief Executives' Committee and the ICC Board were advised over the past few days, the development of the Regulations has been led by the Working Group, on behalf of its members, to ensure the long-term health and reputation of the sport internationally and domestically."

"The primary purpose of the group was to address members' concerns regarding the proliferation of domestic T20 and other short-form leagues around the world. These have created challenges to and conflicts with the international playing calendar and often rely on a disproportionate number of international players from foreign countries," Richardson added.

The ICC,  after getting some request from its members, formed a Working Group in June 2018 to consider the sanctioning of events and player release after a few poorly resourced and structured leagues came to the fore, giving rise to the fear of match-fixing and spot-fixing. The non-payment of players also threatened to damage cricket's global reputation for which the body decided to form a draft regulation so as to safeguard cricket's reputation and protect the long term health of the members.

"They also recognize and encourage the important role that these leagues, when staged by or in partnership with embers, can play in the promotion of the sport, in raising operational standards, protecting the health, safety and welfare of its participants and enabling professional cricketers to reap the rewards of their talents by mandating minimum contractual protections for players," Richardson said.