The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : ICL hits back

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Sunday, Aug 05, 2007
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ICL hits back

New Delhi: The Indian Cricket League on Saturday hit back at the BCCI for threatening to impose a life ban on players aligning with it, saying the BCCI was a private organisation and had no right to issue such directions.

A day after BCCI made it clear that players taking part in the breakaway league would be banned for life from playing for India, the ICL bosses reacted strongly to the “unfair” stand taken by the game’s governing body and said it would not dissuade them from going ahead.

“BCCI is nobody to give such a direction. It is a private body. The ICL will be a reality and the people will come to watch the matches,” Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra told PTI.

Kapil Dev, chairman of the ICL’s Executive Board, launched a scathing attack on the BCCI and took a dig at president Sharad Pawar by questioning his commitment to cricket.

“He (Pawar) is a very senior politician. He is spending time looking after an important Ministry and country but does he have the time for cricket? I can also say about him what he said about me,” Kapil said. “I am disappointed. They are trying to scare players when people of the country want to play cricket. It is not fair for the BCCI secretary (Niranjan Shah) to say like that,” he said. — PTI

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