Ravi Shastri believes India getting the highest share of the International Cricket Council (ICC)鈥檚 revenues is 鈥榦nly fair鈥, adding that the BCCI won鈥檛 be wrong to ask for an even bigger share. The former head coach and captain said that the revenue share should be relative to the income generated, which the Indians do the most.
India will get 38.5 percent of ICC鈥檚 total revenue, around Rs. 1,968 crore annually for the 2024-27 cycle. That鈥檚 six times more than the second-highest earlier England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)鈥檚 6.89 percent and Cricket Australia (CA)鈥檚 6.25 percent share 鈥 as per the world body鈥檚 distribution model. The remaining 12 percent of the revenue is distributed among nine other nations 鈥 which has always been a contentious subject in the wider sporting world.
However, Shastri feels that this has been done for years by the largest economies.
鈥淚 would want more for India because most of the money that鈥檚 generated comes from India,鈥 Shastri said in an interview with Wisden. 鈥淪o it鈥檚 only fair that they get their share of pound of flesh. It鈥檚 relative, it鈥檚 economies, if tomorrow there might be another economy that鈥檚 stronger. Money might come from there like it did in the 70s, 80s and the chunk of the money went to, went somewhere else. So I think it鈥檚 only fair and, it just shows in the revenues when India travel, look at the television rights, look at the television income that comes for an India series. So it鈥檚 only fair that they get. Whatever they鈥檙e getting now, if not more,鈥 he added.
Several boards have been unhappy with the distribution, too, for they feel it hinders the growth of the game outside the Big Three. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was the only one that publicly criticised it immediately after it came out in 2023, while claiming that other Test-playing nations felt the same.
鈥淲e are insisting that the ICC should tell us how these figures were arrived at,鈥 then PCB supremo Najam Sethi told Reuters. 鈥淲e are not happy with the situation as it stands. Come June, when the board is expected to approve the financial model, unless these details are provided to us, we are not going to approve it.鈥