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Tendulkar withdrawn due to ICL player's presence

February 27, 2009 16:27 IST

India's champion batman Sachin Tendulkar was withdrawn from an exhibition match in Wellington on Friday at the eleventh hour as the Board of Control for Cricket in India objected to presence of an Indian Cricket League player in the team he was to represent.

Tendulkar and wicketkeeper-batman Dinesh Karthik, both of whom are not in the Twenty20 squad, were to play in a charity match between New Zealand Cricket Association and Australian Cricketers' Association, but the BCCI objected to the presence of Hamish Marshall -- a former New Zealand batsman who featured in the rebel ICL tournament last year -- in the Kiwi side that Tendulkar was to play for.

Karthik was to play for the Australian team in the match, billed as a curtain-raiser to the second Twenty20 between India and New Zealand.

The Indian team management withdrew both the players just ahead of the match.

Marshall had played for Royal Bengal Tigers in the ICL's last season.

The BCCI and the ICL are at loggerheads since the inception of the rebel league in 2007. The BCCI has taken a tough stance on the ICL and the tussle between them has led to cricketers, figuring in the rebel league, being banned by their respective boards.

Indian Test batsman VVS Laxman, who was to appear for Nottinghamshire, was also prevented by the BCCI from playing for the English county because of the presence of many ICL players in its ranks.

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