India won the last edition of the Champions Trophy in 2013

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have confirmed that the national team will be present at the Champions Trophy in England next month.

There was uncertainty about whether the defending champions would boycott the event since they were unhappy with the outcomes of last month’s International Cricket Council (ICC) meetings, where a new constitution, governance structure and financial model was passed.

The BCCI were the only Full Member nation to vote against the proposed financial model, while they were one of two boards, with the other being Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), to object to the governance changes.

However, all the speculation surrounding India and the possibility of them missing the Champions Trophy was put to rest on Sunday when the BCCI held a Special General Meeting (SGM) in Delhi and unanimously voted to send a team to England for the tournament.

“The Board unanimously authorised the acting Hony. Secretary of the BCCI [Amitabh Choudhary] to continue negotiations with the ICC in the best interest of the BCCI while keeping its legal options open,” the board’s statement said. “The BCCI SGM unanimously decided that the Indian cricket team will participate in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy.”

It is understood that the results of Sunday’s meeting was influenced by the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), which is supervising the BCCI and all the decisions they make.

“I told them, whenever you take an action think three steps ahead,” CoA chairman Vinod Rai told ESPNcricinfo. “What if the ICC had not bothered about the BCCI notice, what would you have done? Withdraw your team? You think the nation would permit you to withdraw your team?

“I told them India would be in danger of not playing any international cricket for eight years.”