ICC names Champions Trophy venues

Malcolm Speed and Ehsan Mani speak to the media following the meetings in Karachi © Getty Images

The ICC has announced that a series of meetings in Karachi concluded with agreement on the venues for the Champions Trophy later this year and fruitful discussions on television rights in India.

The Champions Trophy will take place between October 7 and November 5 in Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi, with the final in Mumbai. The seedings for the event will be determined by the ODI Rankings on April 1 and the match schedule will be determined after this date.

Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, said that a meeting on the topic of television rights in India had been very beneficial. CSI Octagon, Doordarshan, ESPN Star Sports, Sony Entertainment Television, TEN Sports, TWI and Zee were all given an opportunity to present to the meeting. These presentations were followed by a group discussion involving all of the delegates.

"It has been very helpful to draw together all of our Full Members and many of the major TV rights holders in international cricket to discuss this important issue," Mani told reporters. "We now have a much better understanding of the potential implications of the recent government directive regarding sports television rights in India.

"It was very important to open a wide-reaching dialogue on this issue and we will continue to monitor the issue along with all of these important stakeholders."

Mani and Malcolm Speed, the ICC chairman, also held private discussions with Peter Chingoka, the Zimbabwe Cricket chairman. Mani and Speed highlighted a number of areas of concern which they said they expected the interim board appointed by the Zimbabwe government to "urgently resolve in an open and transparent manner".

These include addressing allegations of financial mismanagement; ensuring disputes between players and the board are effectively addressed, and providing certainty for other ICC members that the strongest possible Zimbabwe cricket team will be able to fulfill future international commitments, especially the forthcoming tour of the West Indies due to commence in April.