NEW DELHI, Dec 10: India has rejected players’ contracts for next year’s World Cup, it was revealed Tuesday, leaving the sport’s world governing body facing a showdown with its corporate partners.

The Indians will forego personal endorsements which conflict with official sponsors only during the Feb 8-March 23 tournament in southern Africa, instead of 30 days before and after the event as laid down in the contracts.

The cricketers will also allow their images to be used by sponsors for just two months after the event, instead of six as demanded by the International Cricket Council (ICC), sources told AFP.

With the Indians refusing to back down, the ICC faces the ire of its sponsors, who insisted on the ambush marketing clauses when signing a seven-year deal worth 550 million dollars.

The ICC can ill afford to displease both its sponsors and India, whose vast cricket-crazy television audiences have guaranteed the huge pay packet for the governing body.

At least three of the four major World Cup sponsors have major commercial interests in India.

Official sources confirmed media reports that Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and Test spinner Anil Kumble, had told the ICC on Monday that the present contracts were unacceptable.—AFP