NEW DELHI: Holders India will take part in the Champions Trophy next month, the cricket board said Sunday, ending weeks of speculation over their participation in the event organized by the sport’s world governing body.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which is embroiled in a revenue-sharing row with the International Cricket Council (ICC), announced the decision after a special general meeting in New Delhi.
“The BCCI SGM unanimously decided that the Indian cricket team will participate in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy,” it said in a statement.
The squad for the 50-over tournament would be named on Monday, it added.
The eight-nation Champions Trophy will be played in England and Wales from June 1. India won the trophy during the last edition in 2013.
The BCCI had skipped the April 25 deadline for announcing a squad and threatened a pullout over its dispute with the ICC.
This stems from the ICC’s decision last month to amend rules so that less money and power was held by cricket’s “Big Three” — England, India and Australia.
The powerful BCCI stands to lose $277 million in revenue over the next eight years under the sweeping changes approved by ICC members.
The BCCI said it was keeping its legal options open, indicating the row was far from over.
“The Board unanimously authorized the acting honorary secretary of the BCCI to continue negotiations with the ICC in the best interest of the BCCI while keeping its legal options open,” it said in the statement.
The BCCI’s use of the Champions Trophy as a bargaining chip with the ICC had come in for criticism. Indian cricketing greats including Sachin Tendulkar urged the side to compete in the prestigious event.
A panel of administrators appointed by India’s top court to oversee the scandal-ridden BCCI had also asked the board to take a swift decision on the event.
Cricket’s massive popularity in India has helped the BCCI become by far the wealthiest of all of cricket’s national boards, netting massive money from sponsorship and TV deals.
Its last television rights deal with the Star network was worth a reported $750 million.
But despite its rude financial health, the board has found itself embroiled in scandals in recent years, including accusations of corruption in the Indian Premier League involving a team linked to its former head Narayanaswami Srinivasan.
India to take part in Champions Trophy, says cricket board
India to take part in Champions Trophy, says cricket board
Russell, Antonelli lead Mercedes in one-two qualifying positions for F1’s Australian GP
- Russell topped all three sessions in F1’s knockout qualifying format, finally casting aside questions of where Mercedes team was in the new-era pecking order
MELBOURNE: Mercedes has revealed its dominant hand during qualifying for Sunday’s Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
George Russell earned his ninth-career pole position Saturday ahead of his teammate Kimi Antonelli for the team’s 83rd front-row lockout and its first since the 2024 British Grand Prix.
Russell topped all three sessions in F1’s knockout qualifying format, finally casting aside questions of where Mercedes team was in the new-era pecking order. His pole time, at 1 minute, 18.518 seconds, was almost eight-tenths faster than the nearest non-Mercedes challenger, Red Bull rookie Isack Hadjar, who completed the top three.
“It was a great day, we knew there was a lot of potential in the car, but until we get to this first Saturday of the season, you never know,” Russell said. “But it really came alive this afternoon, especially when the track temperatures cooled, we know we tend to favor those conditions.”
Antonelli was relieved to have made it onto the front row alongside his teammate after a crash in final practice at the exit of turn two meant it was a race in the Mercedes garage to get him out for qualifying.
“It’s been a very stressful day. Unfortunately, I went into the wall (in FP3),” he said. “But the guys (in the garage) were the heroes today to put the car back on track.”
Hadjar was impressive by qualifying third on debut for Red Bull, his highest-ever grid position.
“The only thing I can do is take them at the start, but they’re just too fast at the moment,” Hadjar said of Mercedes. “I want to keep my position and a second podium would be cool.”
Ferrari showed it’s neck-and-neck with McLaren on pace, with just one and a half tenths seconds covering the four drivers just beyond the top-three — with Charles Leclerc qualifying fourth, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in fifth and sixth respectively, and Lewis Hamilton in seventh.
Racing Bulls showed they’ve taken a step forward over the winter, with New Zealander Liam Lawson eighth ahead of his highly-rated rookie teammate Arvid Lindblad.
The big surprise of the session came from four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen, who triggered red flags at Melbourne’s Albert Park after he lost control of his Red Bull car in braking for turn one in the first half of Q1 and ended in the barriers.
The Dutchman, who was unhurt from the crash, though upset that his brakes locked up, will now start from the back of the grid.
F1 heads into a new era this year, with unprecedented changes across the chassis (car) and power unit, which now feature an almost 50:50 output split between the turbo 1.6-liter V6 engine and electrical energy harvested from the brakes, one that requires a new, often counterintuitive driving style from the drivers.
