The ICC’s quarterly get-together in Dubai looks anything but routine. Chief executives assemble on 5 November, board chairs follow on the 7th, and three awkward subjects hover over the agenda – or, in one case, sit just off it.
First up is the Asia Cup fallout. India defeated Pakistan in a final that produced fine cricket and fraught politics. The BCCI refused the customary handshake line-up, four players were sanctioned for political gestures, and the winning side declined to receive the trophy from Mohsin Naqvi, the PCB chair who also heads the Asian Cricket Council. The silverware has since vanished into an ACC office in the UAE. Naqvi insists that he, and only he, will present it: “I will hand over the trophy as ACC head.” Whether he turns up in person – he doubles as Pakistan’s interior minister – or dials in remotely remains uncertain.
Board members admit privately that an India-Pakistan thaw would lift the game commercially and diplomatically, yet few expect miracles. A senior official from a Full Member nation told me over the phone that the best they can hope for this week is “a photo-op and an agreement on where the trophy actually lives”. That may sound modest, but in the current climate modest steps matter.
The meeting will also examine the governance crisis engulfing USA Cricket. USAC’s debts, a suspended board director and a still-unpublished audit have spooked the ICC, which is partly bankrolling the USA’s men’s T20 World Cup hosting duties in 2026. One CEC delegate said the conversation will be “less about punishment, more about survival”, with the ICC keen to avoid another administration collapse in an emerging market.
Then comes a thorny, distinctly modern dispute over Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) rights. The ICC wants to launch an official video-game across mobile, PC and consoles, convinced esports can open fresh revenue streams. The World Cricketers’ Association, however, has written to its 600 members arguing that the governing body is building the game on player likenesses “without agreeing to terms with players collectively.”
At July’s annual conference, a few boards suggested cutting bilateral deals with their own squads rather than negotiating through the WCA. The union says that approach breaches an earlier understanding and, worse, sets a precedent for boards to “own” player images well beyond existing contract periods. Expect a lively exchange when chief executives report back on their progress – or lack of it – in striking individual deals.
No formal votes are scheduled, yet solutions are needed sooner rather than later. The Asia Cup trophy cannot stay in limbo, the USAC books cannot stay unaudited, and the gaming project cannot progress if half the world’s cricketers are threatening a collective no-show.
The ICC, by nature, moves slowly, and the politics between members can resemble a weary Test match on a sluggish surface. Even so, the Dubai meetings offer a chance, however slim, for proactive decisions. If the board can at least pin down ownership of a piece of silver, map out a rescue plan for American cricket and sketch a framework for NIL negotiations, the sport will have inched forward.
Anything less and the next quarterly round, pencilled in for March, risks being dominated by the same unresolved talking points – only by then the trophy will be dustier, the US debts deeper and the game’s digital avatar still sitting on the sidelines.
