ICC accepts India's altered contracts

The Indian cricket team will play the World Cup under an agreement endorsed by the International Cricket Council executive board during its teleconference on Friday. 

The executive board's decision effectively calls a truce between the ICC and the Board of Control of Cricket in India. Outstanding commercial issues will be resolved after the tournament. The ICC executive board's decision will see: 

• The BCCI accepting responsibility for any claims for compensation that arise from the ICC's commercial partners as a result of the Indian team playing under altered contracts. The responsibility and size of these claims will be determined through an arbitration process after the event.
• Pending the outcome of the arbitration process, the ICC will retain India's $9 million World Cup fee.       
• Should the arbitration process determine that the BCCI is liable for damages and the BCCI refuses to pay this compensation, the ICC executive board will recommend that India is suspended from the ICC.

On this basis, the ICC executive board confirmed the ICC World Cup Contracts Committee's decision to permit the Indian team to take the field in South Africa.

ICC President Malcolm Gray said the agreement will see both sides put aside the commercial dispute until after the tournament to allow the best players to represent India.

"It clears the way for the best team to represent India and ensures that the ICC is able to protect the commercial interests of the game around the world through the agreed process to deal with these issues,” Gray said.

The alterations to the Players Terms in India's case will see the exclusion period for tournament sponsors limited to just the period of the event and limitations placed on the use of players in promotional campaigns.