Unable to go ahead with the Twenty20 Champions League due to a legal threat posed by the Indian Cricket League (ICL), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is readying for a courtroom showdown with the ‘rebel’ establishment.

On Saturday, board vice-president and IPL commissioner Lalit Modi presided over a meeting as top BCCI officials huddled in Mumbai to seek legal advice from in-house as well as International Cricket Council’s (ICC’s) experts.

David Becker, the ICC man, and BCCI president-elect Shashank Manohar — also a leading advocate — were present in the meeting as the board geared up to prepare against a threat from the ICL, where the Zee-bankrolled league has hired a top law firm in England, and is willing to sue if its players (unofficially tagged as rebels), who are associated with various county teams, are prevented from playing in the Champions League.

It is no secret that the board is desperate to go ahead with the tournament, but also with strict instructions in place to not entertain any ICL presence.

This particular issue had led to friction between the BCCI and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), following which the Champions League had to be postponed. The ECB is now planning a Champions League of its own, which is proposed to be played in the UAE.

Modi, however, is not willing to let go of the idea that a tournament with top Twenty20 teams from across the world, including the IPL finalists, can be played out. “Finally everything boils down to the television revenue that India can generate and if at all there’s a competition between two boards, it’s no secret where the priorities will lie,” a top BCCI official told The Indian Express.

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