NEWS

BCCI welcomes ICC's World Cup truce

January 26, 2003 14:15 IST
The Indian cricket board has welcomed the world body's compromise deal to allow its players to take part in the World Cup starting in South Africa next month.

"We are satisfied by the decision," Board of Control for Cricket in India president Jagmohan Dalmiya told reporters on Saturday.

The International Cricket Council on Friday cleared the participation by India's top players despite a long-running and unresolved sponsorship dispute.

The dispute, which has raged for at least six months, arises from the conflicting interests of official World Cup sponsors on the one hand and the Indian players' personal sponsors on the other.

The Indian board, a party to the ICC contract, has backed the player rebellion against the world body.

The ICC executive board ruled that if the official World Cup sponsors later sue for compensation, the ICC will hold the Indian board responsible and will go for

arbitration to decide who should pay.

The ICC has said it would hold back $ 9 million -- due to India for taking part in the tournament -- until the matter is finally settled and warned it could call for India to be suspended from the world game if the matter dragged on.

Dalmiya said the Indian board would argue that it was not bound by the agreement the ICC had signed with IDI, the world body's commercial arm, and that excessive rights had been given to the Global Cricket Corporation, which has a $ 550 million worth commercial deal with ICC for seven years up to 2007.

"We are not running away from arbitration. Let us see what the claim is," he said on the prospects of the dispute going into arbitration.

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