Dave Richardson, the International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive, has acknowledged India indulged in "gamesmanship" and were "in the driving seat" during negotiations over the controversial restructure of the governing body.
This year, the national boards of India, England and Australia proposed a radical overhaul of the ICC – including increased shares of global revenue for all three and powerful positions on a new executive committee – which were voted through in modified form at the annual conference.
Richardson did not confirm – when asked by the BBC on Friday – nor did he deny that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had played a forceful hand.
“India were saying, ‘We need to have more of a say, we need more money’. So it was a negotiation; it turned into a negotiation,” he said.
“There was gamesmanship, certainly some people have more influence than others and more authority.”
Richardson also played down fears that the three boards had arranged to dominate decision-making in the ICC, suggesting their new status was merely a formalising of a pre-existing pattern.
“The reality is, although there’s been a lot of talk about change, it is the people who were having the most influence on the ICC board in the past that will still have the most influence going forward,” he said.
Richardson also defended the appointment of N Srinivasan as ICC chairman despite his country's supreme court standing him down from his BCCI role as part of corruption investigations in the Indian Premier League.
“The supreme court has not gone as far as to say he should not be involved with ICC or be the next chairman,” Richardson said.
“What we do know is the supreme court charges to be investigated are totally unsubstantiated at this point.”
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