India’s cricket board gets a loan request from Lanka

[Kartikey]

India might just have a brand new bank, one called the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Arjuna Ranatunga, cash-strapped Sri Lankan cricket’s new chief, has said he was banking on the BCCI to bail them out, possibly through off-shore series or even "short-term loans". Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) secretary Kangatharan Mathivanan told HT he had contacted BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi on the issue and had received positive feedback. A senior BCCI official said the Lankans had reportedly met BCCI chief Sharad Pawar on January 17. "We are trying to work out how exactly we can help them. After all, they are our neighbours. An off-shore series is also an option,†said the official. Time for India to rebuild its muscle-flexing image and play the friendly neighbour? But playing financier isn’t new to the BCCI. It had announced the formation of a corpus to support Indian Olympic sport in April 2006. And as of now, though the fund has been set aside, a proper system for the allotment of funds in still awaited. “We had written to all national sports federations and asked them to recommend an expert who would be part of a special committee to verify credentials of sportspersons applying for the scholarship,†said BCCI chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty. “But not many associations responded."

[King]

Geez how much rest of the cricketing countries are relying on India to keep the sport in good health in their country. Pakistan always looks forward to playing India as that means the cash register filling up. Now it's Sri Lanka's turn. I reckon other than India, Australia and to certain extent England rest of the cricketing board will be bankrupt in couple of years. That's not good for the sport. I just hope there is more competition among teams. Perhaps few Twenty20 series' may help too.

[mhr123]

Nice to hear that we are the richest cricket board in the world and further more we are even giving Loans to other cricket boards. Wonder if all these money are being spend on something benefical for the future of Indian cricket team rather than making our rich cricket players more richer. Someone correct me if iam wrong i heard BCCI have not sponsered MRF space acadmey.If thats true then BCCI really sucks because MRF space acadmey is doing the best job to bring out the best players for India.

[DomainK]

Nice to hear that we are the richest cricket board in the world and further more we are even giving Loans to other cricket boards. Wonder if all these money are being spend on something benefical for the future of Indian cricket team rather than making our rich cricket players more richer. Someone correct me if iam wrong i heard BCCI have not sponsered MRF space acadmey.If thats true then BCCI really sucks because MRF space acadmey is doing the best job to bring out the best players for India.

A large part of that money is in certain processes of multiplying self. BCCI does not give a damn about the growth of the sport. Its growing simply because of the popularity. Good to see BCCI extending help to sl. I hope they recover from this situation fast.

[Kartikey]

yes i also hope SL recover. They r perhaps the only team i respect apart from India. Now come on, we and SL have to join forces and destroy those cheats in the ODI series.

[Guest HariSampath]

I hope the Indian cricket board keeps its commitment to help SL cricket board in their hour of need, because we can easily afford to do so as this is peanuts for us. Let us not forget that SL is a cricketing nation with names like Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Muthiah Muralitharan , Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga...world class and champion players for whom we would gladly give millions of dollars to just see for one day in India !