KOLKATA, Dec 20: The Indian cricket board faces hefty fines after refusing to accept an ultimatum by the sport’s world governing body over sponsorship deals for next year’s World Cup.

A meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday sought more concessions from the International Cricket Council (ICC) for its endorsement-rich players to play in the tournament in southern Africa in February and March.

The BCCI will give its final response to the ICC next week.

“The player terms have been undergoing changes, they can change more taking into account the particular difficulties of Indian players,” BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya told reporters after a marathon meeting of the top BCCI office-bearers.

The BCCI will hold an urgent general meeting on Wednesday after a teleconference with the ICC on Monday before finalising its response, he said.

The meeting followed Thursday’s offer by the ICC, which gave an ultimatum to the BCCI that its leading players sign the terms by January 14 or face heavy compensation claims. India must submit its final 15-strong World Cup squad by Dec 31.

Dalmiya criticised the ICC for making public the details of its final offer.

“All along we were hearing everything is confidential,” he said. “Our office-bearers are shell-shocked by the public announcement of the new terms. We feel a little let down.

“A point of impossibility is coming,” he added. “They (the ICC) are pushing us. On one hand, they want us to send the best team and yet they insist the players sign the new terms.”

“Let us see,” replied Dalmiya when asked if the BCCI would announce its 15-man squad the end of the year.

Indian players have refused to accept the ICC stipulation that existing individual sponsorship agreements be frozen if they clash with official World Cup sponsorships.

In its latest offer, the ICC has offered to reduce the period after the event when the ambush marketing clause will be in force to five days. Previously the period was 30 days either side of the event and also during the tournament.

However the BCCI insists that Indian players can only abide by the terms during the World Cup.—Reuters