da realbet： In recent times, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has lostthe chance to make quite a bit of money
Staff Reporter26-Jul-2001In recent times, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has lostthe chance to make quite a bit of money. With the Indian Governmentcancelling the tours to Sharjah and Toronto of late, the BCCI has lostclose to 13,00,000 lakh dollars. However, all that will be made up byIndia’s participation in the 2003 World Cup. As a participant nation,the organizers of the competition will pay the BCCI 18 millionAmerican dollars which in Indian currency is close to Rs 85 crores.Even if Sachin Tendulkar and company fail to win a single match, theparticipation fee is guaranteed. Other than that, there are attractivefinancial gains if India reaches the Super-six stage or the final.According to reliable sources from the International CricketConference, the BCCI will stand to make a lot of profit by just beingpresent in the World Cup.Even though South Africa are the organizers of the World Cup, the ICCwill have overall control of the tournament. The television rights forthe competition has been given to the World Sports Group for anastronomical sum. This has enabled the ICC to provide most of thecountries taking part in the tournament a substantial amount. Eventhough India’s performance in the 1996 and the 1999 World Cuptournaments had been not up to the mark, the ICC is paying the BCCIthe amount mentioned above. It should also be mentioned here thatamongst all the participating nations, the Australian Cricket Board isgetting the maximum. But then they deserve that as they are thechampions in both the forms of the game.Now it is to be seen whether the BCCI utilizes the amount that hasbeen guaranteed to them for their participation. In the past, thepreparation for the World Cup had been quite lackadaisical. Now withthe coffers ready to overflow, the BCCI could well start preparing inearnest for the World Cup, under two years away.