Dubai: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Saturday gave Indian cricketers some more time to reconsider their stand on the sponsorship issue and sign the agreement for next month's Champions Trophy.
ICC chairman Malcolm Gray told reporters after the executive board meeting that 11 of the 12 participating countries had either signed or agreed to sign the contract in the next two or three days. He said in view of the difficulties faced by the Indian cricketers and the Board, ICC decided to give them some more time to take their decision. Gray said he will be in touch with BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya over the next couple of days and help him find an acceptable solution to all. The meeting was attended by the entire top-brass of ICC and heads of all the member Boards. "Everybody fully appreciated the problem faced by the BCCI. We realised the consequences and the seriousness of the matter," Gray said. "We have been talking to Mr Dalmiya and it will continue." Gray stressed that the "tournament will go on one way or another". "But it will be good if all the teams came." He reiterated that the contract was valid only for the Champions Trophy. Dalmiya, who spoke to the press separately, said he was hopeful of finding a solution soon. "I have tried to put across the Indian boys' concerns regarding personal endorsements. I have made them agreeable to see that they will be given due consideration. "It is the typical problem faced by our players," he said. Dalmiya said he had applied "whatever wisdom at his command" to highlight players' problems as it was necessary to find a permanent solution to the vexed issue. Asked whether he intended to travel to England to thrash out the issue with the players, Dalmiya said, "If need be, I will travel even to Timbuktoo. But I do not think that is necessary." About his refusal to talk to players' representative Ravi Shastri, he said, "I have nothing against Ravi Shastri. But this is an ICC contract and hence there was no need for a middleman." He indicated that he was talking to some prominent Indian players but did not identify them. PTI Extras:
ICC accepts BCCI plea, extends deadline on team
England names Blackwell as replacement for Flintoff
Tags: international cricket council, icc, indian cricketers, reconsider, stand on sponsorship issue, sign agreement, champions trophy, chairman malcolm gray, executive board meeting, participating countries, signed, agreed, board, bcci president jagmohan dalmiya, acceptable solutionspecials, specials_news, specials_2002.
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