The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : How BCCI almost scuttled Twenty20

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Wednesday, Sep 26, 2007
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How BCCI almost scuttled Twenty20

New Delhi: India’s triumph in the final of the Twenty20 World Cup may have created a hysteria but the Cricket Board had almost scuttled it when they voted against this slam-bang format in an ICC meeting.

At a time when other Boards were busy accommodating the abridged format, hoping to tap new market and fill empty galleries, a defiant BCCI maintained its rigid stance that India was not ready for the slogathon called Twenty20 and the Board’s top brass felt it could have an adverse effect on the 50-over game.

Reluctant

Subsequently, when the matter came up for voting in an ICC meeting, India was the lone country to vote against the format, even though Twenty20 got a huge thumbs-up with all other nine Test playing countries voting in its favour.

“We were reluctant at first to adopt this version because we thought it would undermine the 50-overs game,” BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah had said.

No choice

“But we were left with no choice after being outvoted 10-1 at the International Cricket Council meetings,” he said.

BCCI Vice President Lalit Modi, while launching the Indian Premier League (IPL) also admitted that the Board was not initially excited by the idea of Twenty20.

“We did not want to take the Twenty20 plunge because we did not have the format in our domestic structure,” he said.

With BCCI not patronising the format, the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Indian squad left for South Africa having played just one Twenty20 international.

But the inexperience did not stop them from pulling off four wins in a row to lift the trophy. — PTI

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