The governing body of international cricket is the International Cricket Council (ICC) but it can be argued that ICC instead stands for the Indian Cricket Council.
India is the largest participant of cricket, with billions of Indians passionately playing and following the sport around the world.
This popularity brings with it obvious financial success, with Indian cricket the richest in the world. While the International Cricket Council is made up of members from the participating nations, the 10 main Test playing nations make up the higher levels of the Council.
But it has become apparent, especially in recent years that the financial success of cricket in India has flowed into their influence on the game through the ICC. While it may be going too far to say that India control cricket, it is certainly fair to say that they have far more influence on the game than they fairly should.
While the structure of the ICC could also be questioned, that’s an issue for another day. Instead let’s examine the influence that India have on the game.
That influence can best be described as “controlling” and “negative”.
The clearest example of this is the Decision Review System (DRS), India question the accuracy of the technology so they refuse to use it. While the ICC letting India control whether the DRS is used in its matches is bad, what’s worse is it has a flow on effect. In a recent Tri Series between Australia, England and India the DRS was not used, but not just for games involving India, but also for the games between England and Australia, two countries that happily use the technology in all other matches.
The problem with India’s dominance of the ICC is not just that they get to make decisions for themselves on how they want the game to be played, but also that this flows on to other countries and affects how they play cricket as well.
The solution is simple: The ICC must take control and set rules for all teams. But unfortunately while India have such a position of dominance off the field, no consistency, clarity and fairness looks likely any time soon.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
The Aussie's dismissal summed up Lucknow's night, losing to Kolkata Knight Riders by 98 runs.
As wife Alyssa Healy watches on, Mitchell Starc was back in form, taking three wickets in an over including the dangerous Tim David, to…
Joe Root was showing some brotherly love, giving his younger sibling Billy a chance in their county match.
Australia have reclaimed top spot in the ICC's Test rankings, replacing India. Despite not playing since winning 2-0 in New Zealand in March, Pat…
Yashasvi Jaiswal was looking comfortable at 67 off 40, until this moment when he hit the ball into his own stumps!
The Aussie made his 50 off 37 balls, for his fourth half-century of the season as his Sunrisers Hyderabad went on to beat Rajasthan…
