New Delhi: No sooner did the Indian cricketers arrive after their tour of New Zealand, they got down to the business of discussing the modalities of the newly- floated Indian Cricket Players' Association (ICPA). Although it was described as an "administrative" meeting, it came on a day when the controversial ICC players' contract was challenged in the Delhi High Court by former Union Minister and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president N K P Salve as well as former cricketers Kapil Dev and Madan Lal among others. All the top functionaries of the association, including president Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, secretary Arun Lal, Abbas Ali Baig, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid attended the hour-long meeting on Friday, which was surprisingly a very low-key affair. Despite the brewing contract controversy, Arun Lal refused to attach much significance to the meeting. "It was just an administrative meeting. We went through the papers as we are setting up everything," Arun Lal later said. "It was a planned meeting. Since Dravid and Kumble had a programme in Delhi, we had scheduled the meeting accordingly," he said. Asked whether ICPA officials had discussed the contract dispute, Arun Lal said, "We are aware of all that's happening. I would not like to say anything more at this point of time." However, the fact that the members had a teleconference with Indian captain Saurav Ganguly in Kolkata during the meeting, suggests that the meeting had more to do than mere administrative work. All the 15 members of the Indian World Cup squad had conditionally signed the player terms well before the January 14 deadline set by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Although ICC confirmed it had received the signed contracts, it is yet to decide whether they are acceptable or not. Extras:
Indian Board sends conditional players terms to ICC
Indian players sign ICC WC contract with riders
Thatscricket Special: World Cup 2003

Tags: cricket, new delhi, indian cricketers, arrive, tour of new zealand, discussing modalities, newly-floated indian cricket players' association, icpa, administrative, controversial icc players' contract.