We have never thrust a decision on BCCI, says Vinod Rai

Vinod Rai has revealed that CoA was in favor of continuation of the tournament and directed Amitabh Chaudhary to take the same stance in the meeting with ICC. However, Chaudhary failed to inform Rai about the proceedings of the meeting and Rai asserted that CoA has never forced any decision on the board and has instructed Chaudhary to carry out the mandate of continuing with the Champions Trophy in the next meeting or else he would not be representing BCCI at the ICC.    

“You can put it down in writing. If he doesn’t follow that, he will not represent the BCCI at the ICC despite the court saying so. Because I will go to the court and say that he has failed in doing so. We have never thrust a decision on the BCCI. I consult the office-bearers—check records and see how many meetings we have had with the office-bearers or the IPL governing council. All decisions are by consensus,” said Vinod Rai in an interview with Indian Express.

On being asked about over-indulgence of players in the decisions, he said, “Let me ask you a counter question. Why does the BCCI exist? Because 11 people go and play in the stadium. BCCI gets Rs 16,350 crore for media rights because of Virat Kohli and his team. Now why shouldn’t the players’ interests be protected? If a player gets Rs 3 crore per annum and he meets an Australian or England player and hears ‘oh man, I get 12 crore’. And we are the richest board in the country. We addressed it to the extent that you call over-indulged. We talked to players, team management, coach and I had a very detailed discussion with the Cricket Advisory Committee. You may be right when you say they have been over-indulged.”