CAPE TOWN, March 17: The International Cricket Council has taken a strong view of the India’s continued refusal to play cricket against Pakistan and has threatened severe action if the cricket-specific policy was not changed.

The 13-member all powerful Executive Board of ICC, during its two-day meeting here, discussed among other things the deadlocked cricketing relations between the two powers of the sub-continent and expressed its concern, ICC sources said.

Some members of the Board even suggested harsh punishment against the Indian Cricket Board for repeatedly refusing to play against Pakistan.

The Board expressed concern that only the game of cricket was singled out by the Indian side as it continued to play other sports with Pakistan.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which was represented by its President Jagmohan Dalmiya in the Board, expressed helplessness in the matter saying that it had to depend on permission from the Government of India for playing against Pakistan.

The England and Wales Cricket Board even suggested that BCCI should be boycotted by all the Test playing nations while New Zealand proposed a hefty financial penalty.

On the request of Dalmiya, the Board allowed him time to speak to Indian government officials and convey the feelings of ICC members while also empowering ICC Chairman Malcolm Gray and Chief Executive Malcolm Speed to meet Indian officials to break the deadlock.