ICC, Indian players reach an agreement: Shah
Ashish Magotra
The Indian cricket team, currently touring England, and the International Cricket Council have reached an agreement that will allow the big guns to play in the ICC Champions Trophy, to be held in Sri Lanka from September 12.
"Our players have agreed to the ambush marketing clause for 18 days after the event. We have also learnt the ICC has agreed not to use images of our players," Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Niranjan Shah said.
The ICC contract had stipulated that the ambush marketing clause would be applicable for 30 days after the event.
He said the ICC and the tournament sponsors also agreed to drop the six-month clause that would have allowed the sponsors to use footage from the tournament in their promotional campaigns.
The BCCI will have to recognise the agreement for the big guns to be eligible for selection for the tournament.
Shah said the board has no problem with the agreement as long as the ICC does not demand a rebate from the BCCI for the concessions it is giving to the players.
Earlier, BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya on Thursday had said the world governing body is demanding compensation for the losses that might be incurred by it due to the non-participation of the Indian cricketers. However, ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed on Friday rejected Dalmiya's contention, saying the ICC had sought blanket indemnity from all countries and not just India.
"We have not received anything in writing as yet and only after that happens will we take a decision," Shah said in response to Speed's statement.
The BCCI will hold an emergency meeting in New Delhi on Saturday to address the issue.
Earlier, on Thursday evening, speaking on behalf of the Indian players in London, former India
skipper Ravi Shastri told rediff.com, "With the ICC most things have been
sorted out, it is now between ICC and Board of Cricket Control for
India. As far as the ICC is concerned the players have put their case
forward and I don't see any problem on that issue.
"It's very positive talks and, hopefully, a solution should be around the
corner. We expect a solution by this evening or latest tomorrow morning as
there is an Executive Committee meeting of the BCCI on Saturday.
"It's just ICC and BCCI, the players are not involved any more."
The dispute threatening the Champions Trophy is over commercial sponsorship
with the ICC previously arguing for a 30-day clause and six-month imaging
rights that would prevent Indian players from endorsing certain products.
In the latest twist to the week-long dispute the ICC's marketing arm, the
IDI, intervened on Thursday to extract concessions from both the sponsors
of the players and the sponsors of the trophy to make sure that the Colombo
matches go ahead without any further hitches.
ICC spokesman Brendan McClements said: "The situation with us
today is that there have been talks with the players but there were serious
issues that needed to be resolved. We hope to put out a statement later
today."
With inputs from Shyam Bhatia in London
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