The moment the notorious Big Three plan was leaked within the cricketing world, hundreds of former players and their associations were up in arms against it.

While the cricket boards in Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka, as a reflex action, denounced the damaging move by the newly-formed triumvirate, alleging it to be a nasty attempt at dividing the game, the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) urged the Test playing nations to reject the controversial proposals.

There were dissenting voices from cricket heavyweights such as the former West Indian skipper Clive Lloyd, our own Imran Khan and former England captain Mike Atherton who termed the move as undemocratic and destructive for the game.

The chorus was later joined in by former ICC chiefs Malcolm Gray, Ehsan Mani and even the hard-nosed Malcolm Speed who lashed out at the ruthlessly selfish designs of the Big Three to dictate the ICC and the world cricket on the dint of their immense wealth, lamenting their abuse of power for private gain.

However, there has been a kind of hush on the Indian front, a strange silence, much akin to a white lie so beautifully disguised by the colour of money.

It is truly amazing that there has not been a single dissenting voice from India since the row broke out. Not even as much a whimper from bonafide rebels and bold men like Sharad Pawar or Jagmohan Dalmiya – both former ICC, BCCI presidents who are well remembered for their vociferous campaign to end the imperialism in the ICC and their fight for Asia’s supremacy in the world cricket governing body.

Information gathered from reliable sources revealed that while Sharad is a keen contestant at the upcoming polls as the president of the Nationalist Congress Party, Jagmohan Dalmiya is sitting pretty as the the head of Bengal Cricket Association.

The two obviously won’t want to jeopardize anything for themselves by opposing the BCCI — a formidable and independent body which, some say, is even superior to the Indian government when it comes to devising policies — and drafting proposals, of course.

Needless to say, Dalmiya’s association gets a fat grant from the Indian cricket board and he is either too cautious or too comfortable to alter anything at this stage.

One can also not help marvel at the tight-lipped stance of stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and others who have not uttered a word in this period of turmoil.

And what about Sunil Gavaskar, Sanjay Manjrekar and Ravi Shastri who take it as their right to comment on all thorny issues — related or unrelated — in world cricket.

Gavaskar, for one, has been at the loggerheads with BCCI on more than one occasions in the past. However, for some odd reason, he has chosen to keep mum over the biggest crisis faced by the game since the Kerry Packer saga in the late 1970s.

There’s also no reaction whatsoever from tough talking former players like Kris Srikkant, Dilip Vengsarkar and strongman Kapil Dev, who after getting snubbed by the BCCI a few years ago – opted to form the rebel India Cricket League (ICL) with some of his fellow players that ran for about two years before reaching an amicable agreement.

Apparently, all of these former players are getting a packet in the name of pensions and other perks and are constantly appearing as tv experts on behalf of the BCCI. Hence the silence.

However, the great Bishen Bedi has been an exception, like always. He has spoken his mind on the issue and the fans all over have loved him for his gesture.

But all in all, the BCCI has done a tremendous bargaining job to curb the freedom of speech of all these ‘honourable’ men, obviously at a fair price.

They, in fact, have managed to pull off the same trick with our own Ramiz Raja. Whether they now go on to win over honest men like Ian Chappell and Geoff Boycott remains to be seen.