da betsson： In a clear move to take the Government head on, the Board ofControl for Cricket in India (BCCI) today decided not toparticipate in multilateral tournaments including World Cupand ICC Knock-out series till ‘clear-cut’ guidelines onplaying with
24-Apr-2001In a clear move to take the Government head on, the Board ofControl for Cricket in India (BCCI) today decided not toparticipate in multilateral tournaments including World Cupand ICC Knock-out series till ‘clear-cut’ guidelines onplaying with Pakistan were announced. Board President ACMuthiah told reporters after its working committee meetingin Delhi that uncertainty prevailed over whether the Governmenthad restrained the cricket team from playing at specificvenues or against specific countries too.”In the absence of clear-cut guidelines in this matter, theBoard has decided to play only in bilateral or triangularseries involving Test playing countries. We will notparticipate in tournaments such as Asia Cup, ICC Knock-outseries (2002) and the 2003 World Cup because we do not knowwhether we would be able to play certain sides, like Pakistan,or not,” Muthiah said. The Government, in a statement a fewdays ago, had asked the Board not to send the team to any’non-regular’ venue, like Toronto, Singapore and Sharjah, forthe next three years.The Board’s decision came as a surprise because the issue wasnever mentioned in the Agenda nor was there any talk of it inthe days leading up to the meeting. Muthiah said he expectedthe government to react soon and come out with clear policyguidelines in this regard.He said the working committee had authorised him to form asmall committee under his chairmanship which will meet varioussenior ministers including the Sports Minister and put acrossthe Board’s point of view to them.The announcementovershadowed many other important decisions taken at themeeting.