The Board of Control for Cricket in India, on Thursday (December 24), is expected to consider the addition of two new teams to the Indian Premier League during the board’s 89th Annual General Meeting, in Ahmedabad.
However, Cricbuzz understands that the auction for IPL 2021 is likely to be a smaller one and therefore the forthcoming season is unlikely to see an immediate expansion of the league.
The second AGM under the leadership of president Sourav Ganguly will only have representation from 28 state associations, with no one to represent Punjab, Rajasthan, Odisha, Tripura, Jammu & Kashmir, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Railways, Services and All India Universities.
Here are the other matters up for discussion:
Venues for 2021 T20 World Cup
A topic likely to be raised at the AGM will be the allocation of matches. Even though the BCCI has apprised the members in its agenda papers stating that Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai Delhi, Mohali, Dharamsala, Kolkata and Mumbai will be the venues to host the 2021 T20 World Cup, several other associations are likely to take objection to that.
Recently, the Saurashtra Cricket Association, among several others, raised the issue of allocating games to more centres for the upcoming T20 World Cup. This came soon after the schedule for the England tour of India was released, with all the matches being allotted to only three centres. BCCI has, however, added, “Given the ever-evolving COVID-19 situation, the above venues in India may change in the future.”
Tax exemption to ICC for hosting T20 WC 2021
The state representatives will also be updated on the matters of the ICC, the National Cricket Academy and India’s Future Tours Program. One of the key issues up for discussion will be the tax exemption for the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup. As per clause 10.20 of host agreement for this event, the BCCI is obligated to deliver to the ICC a full tax exemption for all income arising out of this event in favour of ICC, its subsidiaries and associates.
In May 2020, the ICC/IBC Board had agreed to extend the deadline to December 31 deadline for BCCI to confirm a full tax exemption for the conduct of the T20 World Cup. If BCCI fails to secure a tax exemption for the ICC by the mentioned date, they will have to agree on one of the two scenarios:
– ICC moves the 2021 event from India to UAE or
– BCCI provides an undertaking that if the BCCI is unable to achieve the requisite tax solution then any resulting tax liabilities by ICC/IBC/its Members will be set off against monies owed to the BCCI from ICC (including ICC distributions) and that the BCCI will be liable for any shortfall after set off.”
