Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, told a press conference in New Delhi today that the BCCI's feud with the International Cricket Council over the player contracts would be resolved amicably through dialogue and would not go before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Dalmiya said the BCCI had agreed to sit across the table with the ICC and resolve the dispute following assurances from newly elected ICC president Ehsaan Mani of Pakistan.
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Dalmiya, however, said the BCCI would appoint an agency to investigate the marketing strategies of the Global Cricket Corporation, the News Corp-owned organisation that holds the right to market all ICC-sponsored cricket tournaments up to the 2007 edition of the World Cup in the West Indies. The Board has set aside a sum of Rs 50 lakh (approximately US $1.07 million) for this purpose.
Dalmiya claims that the agency failed in its task of marketing the World Cup and is now trying to blame India and some other teams for this. He, in fact, had been critical of the ICC's decision to award the marketing rights to the GCC, which had bid $550 million for the privilege, as against $666 million by the India-based television group Zee.
The Indian cricket boss warned that in case the investigation came to the conclusion that the GCC had not done its job properly, the BCCI would even sue the company.
The GCC has claimed US $76 million in damages from the ICC to make up for losses allegedly sustained because of problems with the World Cup in southern Africa, like the refusal of England and New Zealand to play in Zimbabwe and Kenya, respectively, and the refusal of the Indian players to honour all the clauses of the player contracts.
Dalmiya also clarified that the amount withheld by the ICC from the BCCI's dues for the World Cup to cover possible claims of damages was $6.5 million and not $9 million.
ICC general manager (corporate affairs) Brendan McClements told rediff.com that $6.5 million is the net figure that has been withheld since all full members of the ICC have to pay a subscription fee of $2.5 million to the sport's governing body.
"Both figures are right," McClements explained. "One is gross, the other is the net amount. The difference is approximately the subscription fee the BCCI has to pay the ICC for a couple of years."
