We are asking for just and fair share from ICC: Sanjay Patel

Mumbai: The Cricket Board today defended its move to demand a lion's share of financial proceeds earned by the ICC by saying it was a "legitimate right issue" and was also "just and fair".

"This legitimate right issue has been put up before the full members of ICC. It is nothing but a just and fair right that we are asking for. It is not any muscle flexing, but only our legitimate right," BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said here.

"For the first time in the history of the BCCI, as a full member of ICC, this has been put up by President N Srinivasan. He has worked out very good details and very good options," he said.

Patel talked to reporters on the sidelines of the International Cricket Council's announcement of its annual awards.

"President Srinivasan, since last year, was looking into the financial details of the ICC. He has made a private study about what could be the contribution of the BCCI into the revenue stream of ICC. On the basis of that, some formulae have been discussed amongst us. His own acumen as a businessman has also helped us.

"In past it has never been raised (by BCCI or any other member board), so it took some time to discuss and is still under discussion. But we are quite hopeful that result will be absolutely in favour of BCCI," Patel said.

He said unfortunately for the Indian board, this issue had not been addressed in the past.

"I am sorry to say that unfortunately it was not raised earlier by anyone else in the BCCI. But it has been raised now and we are confident that we will get it," he said.

Refusing to divulge any figures that the BCCI was looking up to as its legitimate share, Patel said there were quite a few calculations that need to be worked on.

"Let us keep the amount under wraps. If I say x and if I am entitled to x plus then I will always like x plus. We are discussing range to range and we are quite hopeful," he said."Options are under discussion. And there are a lot of calculations based on work sheets. There are lot of issues - it is not absolute percentage based or something like that," Patel said.

Other sources told PTI that BCCI could earn as much as USD 500 million over a four-year period if its demands are met.

He said the ICC did not come into the picture at all on this issue.

"It is a matter for discussion among the members, rather than the (ICC). It will go to the full members and then it will go to the complete committee, but we are quite sure (of a positive response)," he said.

ICC's Chief Executive David Richardson sidestepped the issue and pointed at Patel as the right man to answer the query, when the matter was raised at the conference.

"I think that is a question for Mr Patel (to answer). Members' distribution is something for members to discuss and worry about, it is not really our concern," he replied.

Srinivasan has already met Cricket Australia chairman Walter Edwards in Singapore last week to discuss about the profit sharing model among member nations of the ICC.

"Srinivasan met the CA top boss and discussed India's concerns about what he thought should be the profit-sharing model. The moot point of discussion was that India generates close to 75 per cent of the income for the parent body. Therefore, we are well within our rights to demand a greater share of profit," a BCCI official told PTI yesterday.