For a long time, the International Cricket Council has been criticized for being the puppet of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, as the ICC has been totally dependent on the BCCI’s financial power and acceptability.
Ex-ICC off-spinner Saeed Ajmal without mincing his words blamed the ICC for the recent debacle between India and Bangladesh over the T20 World Cup 2026 venue and warned that the world cricket body may soon lose its significance if it keeps functioning in the Indian cricket board’s shadow.
Saeed Ajmal dares the ICC to confront the BCCI
In an interview with the press, Ajmal expressed disappointment at the ICC’s reluctance to take on the BCCI and the resulting loss of the council’s ability to make unbiased decisions that would be advantageous for world cricket.
“If the ICC is not ableto enforce its decisions on the Indian board, it might as well not be there,” were Ajmal’s words as quoted by PTI.
Ajmal pointed to several occasions where the ICC’s neutrality was put to test, and one such instance was when the ICC allowed India to turn down the Pakistan option during the ERC tournaments that was seen as a historic case of the heir’s long-cherished right to rule over the body.
“There is no logically sound reason for India to not play in Pakistan but ICC is powerless as it’s now under Indian control,” said Ajmal.
Ajmal further explained that the ICC treats the BCCI like a privileged test-playing cricket nation while other less powerful cricket boards are made to toe the line, and this is how he views the power imbalance in the global cricket administration.
The ICC faces testing times as Bangladesh wants neutrality
Similarly, Bangladesh’s current request for a change of venue for the T20 World Cup 2026, India and Pakistan have politically and security-wise distanced themselves since the last year’s Pahalgam terrorist attack.
The occurrence was the last straw for India, which then isolated Pakistan entirely on the international scene and even imposed a ban on bilateral series.
Now that the ICC chairman and former BCCI secretary Jay Shah are at the top of the council, doubts still exist regarding the ICC’s capacity to remain neutral and make decisions that are against India.
Saeed Ajmal further opined that if the ICC is going to be dominated by the richest cricket board in the world, then the global power center for cricket administration needs to shift in order to promote the game’s growth and development worldwide.
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