London: Amid persisting deadlock over the players' contract issue, an emergency meeting of the Working Committee of the Indian Cricket Board has been called in New Delhi on Saturday to discuss the matter. Board of Control for Cricket for India (BCCI) president Jagmohan Dalmiya told PTI in Kolkata that the Saturday's meeting was to discuss the situation created by the refusal of top Indian players to sign the ICC contract before next week's Champions Trophy in Colombo.Indications here were that the International Cricket Council (ICC), which talked to skipper Saurav Ganguly and other senior players, is pressing the BCCI to pay a hefty compensation to the sponsors of the players. After the lengthy meeting with the ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed and Indian players here on Wednesday, both sides gave no indication of any breakthrough which would enable the players to sign the contracts as demanded by the game's governing body. No clear indication of the amount of the suggested compensation was available but one source put the figure at a whopping $ 10 million. According to reliable sources, the ICC sent a fax to the BCCI this morning asking it to consider giving compensation to the sponsors of the Indian cricketers in lieu of the ICC's ambush clause. The BCCI, on its part, is reportedly unwilling to pay the sponsors the hefty amount. It is learnt that the Board was contemplating sending a second string team to Sri Lanka rather than cough up such a huge amount. The BCCI had earlier advised the Indian players to agree to back off for not only 18 days - that is the duration of the ICC tournament - but also 30 days beyond it as mentioned in the clause, in effect till October 29. The lengthy meeting between the top five Indian players and their representative Ravi Shastri with Speed on Wednesday appeared to have broken down on this very clause with players pointing out the 30-days after clause would restrict them from advertising for their sponsors even during the three Tests at home against the West Indies in October. The ICC is said to have climbed down to the extent of reducing the contentious clause to 15 days, which would still include the first Test against the West Indies at Mumbai, starting on October 9, and then make a further concrete offer to the players. The ICC, in order to find a solution, were also exploring the possibility of the Indian players agreeing to go beyond their 18-day concession and include an extra few days, if not the full 30-day period.
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Speed meets players, fails to break deadlock

Tags: cricket, london, contract issue, working committee, board of control for cricket for india (bcci), jagmohan dalmiya, champions trophy, international cricket council (icc), saurav ganguly, malcolm speed, ravi shastri.