Former ICC Chairman responds to claims that BCCI influences major decisions

As he makes way for Jay Shah, outgoing ICC chair Greg Barclay has admitted that the game he oversaw for four years has fallen into complete shambles and has forewarned of more difficult times to come. Barclay, who led the team for two two-year stints starting in 2020, warned Shah against playing the sport just for India in a conversation with the Telegraph.

In the middle of a continuing issue regarding the Champions Trophy sites, Barclay resigned on December 1 and said that he was having trouble keeping track of who was competing against whom since there was an abundance of cricket being played. Three additional significant franchise-based T20 leagues were established during his tenure in South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States, adding to the already full schedule. 

Barclay said, "I reckon, gee, I'm at the apex of the game and I can't tell you who's playing around the world. In fact, I didn't realise that Sri Lanka were in South Africa until I read about Marco Jansen's seven wickets this morning. So we've lost perspective. It's not great for the game at all. It's a mess. The calendar is incredibly congested and self-interest is such that it's almost impossible to untangle all of that, because no one's going to give up their content."

“BCCI is the board that brings more than 70% of the money” : Greg Barclay

Greg Barclay was also questioned during the interview about the dominance of BCCI and Indian cricket over the sport. He was further asked about his opinion on whether BCCI dictates the major decisions taken by the ICC because of the amount of money the board generates.

The outgoing ICC chairperson said, “BCCI is the board that brings more than 70% of the money which we are able to distribute to the other cricketing boards - hence being able to keep cricket alive in various parts of the world."