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Alternative list in hand but door is not closed: Dalmiya

By H.S. Manjunath

BANGALORE Aug. 21. The Working Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today decided that the Board should interact directly with the players on all the burning issues relating to the ICC events and players' endorsements instead of intermediaries. On the second day of its sitting here, the committee dealt mainly with the restructuring of domestic cricket but the Champions Trophy controversy was high on the agenda with the national selectors handing over a list of 25 probables to the Board.

The BCCI president, Jagmohan Dalmiya, said the composition of the team for the Colombo event would take at least a couple of more days to formalise. He refused to divulge the names of the probables, but said a list in hand did not really mean that the "doors are closed'' for those who have refused to sign the contracts.

"The basic issue was whether we should take part or not. Now that we are definitely taking part, the process would go through," he said.

The working committee has also ratified all the actions taken by Mr. Dalmiya so far and has authorised him to take further appropriate steps in the best interest of Indian cricket.

While the protagonists are as far apart as they were last evening, Mr. Dalmiya said he had several rounds of discussion with some of the players now in England, though he remained non-committal on the way these parleys were shaping up. Specifically asked to name the players he has been talking to, Mr. Dalmiya said, "There is no hide and seek. I have been talking to Saurav Ganguly and Anil Kumble mainly. I understand their apprehensions.''

Mr. Dalmiya denied that the issue was basically a fight between the Board and the players. "We have not drawn these contracts. ICC has done it. We are trying our best to safeguard the interests of our players. We have no fight with them. After all, they are our players. All that the board is asking the players to do is to honour the ICC conditions for this one tournament and they are free to come back and sit across the table. We will extend all help. If they want, we will assist them in their legal battles. If they want us to talk to the sponsors, we will use our good offices. I entirely disagree that the Board is fighting the players," he said.

The former ICC President said that when these contracts were sent to him, he had opposed them saying that some of the endorsement terms contravened the fundamental rights of a player, which was against the Constitution of the country. But the ICC responded by insisting that those terms had already been agreed upon by the BCCI.

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