With a fanbase of a billion people, India is the country with most cricket-loving fans in the world. As a result, the economic value of the game is the highest in the country and according to the latest report from ICC’s Strategy Working Group (SWG), over-reliance on India is apparently the greatest weakness in its quest for making cricket a global sport.

The SWOT analysis in the report states that since the game is heavily depended on revenues and fans from India, cricket can’t truly be dubbed as a global sport. Furthermore, there is a lethargy towards aggressive expansion that counters this reliance, says the report.

A meeting of the ICC working group and BCCI will take place in New Delhi on Thursday, where this report will be discussed in detail. SWG, who also have BCCI CEO Rahul Johri as one of its members, claim that there is a lack of parity in the distribution of income and that the financial sustainability of leading members is also questionable.

Going by the gist of the report, the ICC is looking to further skim down BCCI’s share from its income as a means to allocate more of the money towards the sustenance of other members – a move that might not go down with BCCI, who only last year had rough discussions with ICC over revenues.

It seems as though the report has pointed out all the flaws with the game at this point as it blames broadcasters for using the sport for “short-term financial gain” while also adding that there is a growing lack of competition in the broadcast markets. It should be noted that Star earned bumper-deals in Indian cricket this year.

Despite the fact that Hindi is one of the major languages in the sport, the report noted that the Anglo-centric norms of the game is another weakness given that the international game is almost exclusively in English.

"The Spirit of Cricket is often seen as a fundamental part of the sport's attraction but does not always translate identically in different cricketing cultures. Furthermore, the regulation of the international game is exclusively in English and decision-making is undertaken in English," the report stated.

The report further adds that ICC isn’t the only one responsible for the regulation of the game as the rules of the sport come from Marylebone Cricket Club – and that is used for governing cricket.