NEW DELHI, Sept 7: India’s cricket chief Jagmohan Dalmiya rejected an ICC compromise deal to a sponsorship row Saturday, again raising doubts over whether their leading player would take part in next week’s Champions Trophy.
In yet another twist to a month-long wrangle, Dalmiya rejected an International Cricket Council (ICC) plan even though it has already accepted by India’s players.
He argued the deal could lead to the Indian board facing legal action and instead tabled a rival proposal, at the same time giving the players a Monday deadline to sign or be axed from the team.
That ultimatum raised the spectre of India fielding a second-rate side without the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly at the sport’s most prestigious one-day tournament outside the World Cup.
The long-running row has centred on India’s players refusing to sign playing contracts for the Sept 12-29 tournament in Sri Lanka.
They disputed a clause preventing them from endorsing products of rival companies to official sponsors 30 days either side of ICC events, arguing they had not been consulted over their existing lucrative sponsorships.
They also opposed official tournament sponsors being allowed to use their images for up to six months.
The ICC, asked to intervene by the Indian board after it failed to find a compromise, seemed to have resolved the issue once and for all on Friday after agreeing to certain amendments with Ganguly’s players. Among them, the players accepted not to endorse rival products for 16 rather than 30 days after the Champions Trophy.
But Dalmiya said Saturday he was still worried that tournament sponsors unhappy with the changes could sue his board.
“The board will again propose to our players to sign the 30-day clause,” he said.
“I am prepared to give the players a blank cheque. Any loss they suffer will be paid by us,” he added after a meeting of the board’s decision-making working committee.
Dalmiya had earlier asked for a guarantee from the ICC that it would pay the bill if the Indian board were later sued by sponsors.
The ICC and the rest of the Test-playing nations refused to give such a blanket guarantee, arguing the issue was theoretical and should be dealt with only if it came about.
Earlier, the International Cricket Council said it had resolved the sponsorship dispute with India that threatened the team’s partici pation in next week’s Champion’s Trophy.
However the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) still has to ratify the compromise and board officials say they are stunned that they have been told to pay compensation to the players’ personal sponsors.
ICC President Malcolm Gray said the agreement was made after a meeting with the Indian players, who are in England on tour, on Wednesday.
However, Indian tour manager Ranga Reddy told the Associated Press they had not had any contact with the BCCI about the compromise.—Reuters