NEW DELHI, Jan 19: The Indian cricket board has voiced its opposition to International Cricket Council (ICC) plans of adding fresh tournaments to the calendar due to the negative impact they would have on its revenue.

Board secretary Niranjan Shah revealed that the ICC wanted to include more events, including a Twenty20 World Cup, adding that it would also affect the Indian board’s plans to secure a regular home series every year during the peak season from October.

“We don’t mind honouring ICC decisions, but they can’t go on adding tournaments and taking away from our pie,” he told Reuters on Thursday. “Eighty percent of the money comes from India.”

Indian board officials would raise the issue when they met the ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed at its headquarters in Dubai on Friday to finalise details for the Champions Trophy to be staged in India in October-November, he added.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is seen in confrontation with the ICC after announcing that India would skip the Champions Trophy after 2006 because it was being held during its busy season.

The ICC has warned the BCCI against making such a unilateral decision. “We’ve not cancelled any committed tour which is there in the Future Tours Programme (FTP),” Shah said.

“Our basic complaint is if England and Australia can plan regular home series every year, why should we not plan,” Shah said. “India is a major force.”—Reuters