BOMBAY (Reuters) - Leading Indian players could be barred from playing in the Champions Trophy next month if they refuse to sign a International Cricket Council (ICC) contract preventing them from endorsing products that conflict with authorised tournament sponsors.
“It could come to the players being dropped,” Niranjan Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), told reporters.
“We are a part of the ICC, we don’t want to confront them.”
The BCCI was on Monday forced to hold back the announcement of the squad for next month’s ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka because their top players are yet to sign the contract for the event scheduled from September 12-29.
If the row results in the dropping of players, it could lead to a major controversy ahead of the 12-nation one-day tournament.
“I am not announcing the team as our players have still not signed the ICC contract, which is required to be signed by all those selected for the event,” Shah said.
“We have selected the 14 and we are moving as per schedule, but we will not declare the team till the players sign,” he added after a selection committee meeting.
The ICC’s “conflict of interest” contract with test countries also bars team sponsorships 30 days before and after ICC events.
The contract bans team and player endorsements by companies in the same line of business as ICC’s sponsors for major events like the Champions Trophy and the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.
BEEN EXTENDED
The ICC had set a deadline of August 12 for the players to sign the contract but Shah said he had heard “unofficially” that the deadline had been extended until Friday.
“We are talking to the ICC on a day-to-day basis, we are also talking to the players,” Shah said.
“Today is the last day of the second test against England, so the players will sit together tomorrow and decide what to do. We are at a very critical moment now in our talks with the ICC.”
Many leading Indian players – led by star batsman Sachin Tendulkar and captain Saurav Ganguly – endorse a wide range of products through newspaper and television advertising and would stand to lose a big sum of money if they agree to the contract.
Companies which have signed individual contracts with players gain maximum mileage during major events and would therefore resist the move, analysts say.
The India team’s sponsorship by a domestic company Sahara, which owns the country’s third-largest airline, has also been objected by World Cup main sponsor South African airlines over a conflict of business interests.
Shah said players from some of the other countries also had reservations regarding the contract.
India had earlier this month named Saurav Ganguly as captain for tournament. They had also announced a list of 20 probables, which has been pruned to 14.
The probables: Saurav Ganguly (captain), Dinesh Mongia, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Ashish Nehra, Parthiv Patel, Ajay Ratra, Vangipurappu Laxman, Murali Kartik, Jai Prakash Yadav, Sanjay Bangar, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Tinu Yohannan.
A crisis in the making? ICC flexing its muscle on the advertising issue. Sounds silly to me, the players should be allowed to sponsor various products. It does no harm and the players have a right to make money by advertising.
[This message has been edited by ehsan (edited August 12, 2002).]