In recent times, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has lost the chance to make quite a bit of money. With the Indian Government cancelling the tours to Sharjah and Toronto of late, the BCCI has lost close to 13,00,000 lakh dollars. However, all that will be made up by India's participation in the 2003 World Cup. As a participant nation, the organizers of the competition will pay the BCCI 18 million American dollars which in Indian currency is close to Rs 85 crores. Even if Sachin Tendulkar and company fail to win a single match, the participation fee is guaranteed. Other than that, there are attractive financial gains if India reaches the Super-six stage or the final. According to reliable sources from the International Cricket Conference, the BCCI will stand to make a lot of profit by just being present in the World Cup.

Even though South Africa are the organizers of the World Cup, the ICC will have overall control of the tournament. The television rights for the competition has been given to the World Sports Group for an astronomical sum. This has enabled the ICC to provide most of the countries taking part in the tournament a substantial amount. Even though India's performance in the 1996 and the 1999 World Cup tournaments had been not up to the mark, the ICC is paying the BCCI the amount mentioned above. It should also be mentioned here that amongst all the participating nations, the Australian Cricket Board is getting the maximum. But then they deserve that as they are the champions in both the forms of the game.

Now it is to be seen whether the BCCI utilizes the amount that has been guaranteed to them for their participation. In the past, the preparation for the World Cup had been quite lackadaisical. Now with the coffers ready to overflow, the BCCI could well start preparing in earnest for the World Cup, under two years away.

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