NEW DELHI, Nov 26: Indian batsman Virender Sehwag is available to play in the first Test against England starting on December 3, despite being given a one-match ban, India’s top cricket official said on Monday.

But the International Cricket Council said Sehwag remained ineligible for selection and England officials indicated they would support any decision by cricket’s ruling body.

BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya said that in the view of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Sehwag has already served his ban by not playing in the current game against South Africa in Centurion.

“In my mind, the current match against South Africa is official which will make Sehwag eligible to play against England,” said.

“However, we have an open mind and if somebody can explain to us that we are wrong in assuming the match is official we are prepared to listen,” he added.

The third and final match of the series in South Africa was stripped of its Test status by the ICC after home officials banned match referee Mike Denness in a row over penalties he imposed on six Indian players in the drawn second Test .

But the ICC said it had confirmed the one-match ban served on Sehwag by Mike Denness.

“This means that he is ineligible for selection for the first Test against England starting in Mohali next Monday. We have notified this fact to Denis Lindsay, the properly appointed ICC match referee for the series.”

A spokesman for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Monday the matter was one which had to be resolved by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

“Our position is clear on this and we are very hopeful that an amicable solution can be found between the BCCI and the ICC,” the spokesman said.

“We have always maintained that this has to be a decision by the ICC.”

The England team, already in India for their three-Test tour, said they would wait for direction from the ECB.

“We will take our lead from our cricket board,” the team’s media manager, David Clark, told Reuters in the northern city of Jaipur, where England on Tuesday start their last three-day tour match ahead of the Test series.

“I spoke to the board in London and their view is they have confidence in the ICC to negotiate with the Indian board to resolve this matter. The team is focused for the first Test . There is still a week to go.”

Denness’s suspended ban on Sachin Tendulkar for ball-tempering in the second Test enraged Indian cricket fans and led to a showdown between the ICC and India and South Africa which threatened to split the game.

On Monday Dalmiya said there was no restriction on India’s selectors picking Sehwag for the match.

“The South Africa Test was official because it was a five-day match by two official teams of ICC full members, selected by their respective national selection committees,” Dalmiya said.

The BCCI’s working committee ruled that India would not play any match in which former England captain Denness was acting as referee.—Reuters