Has the International Cricket Council (ICC) succumbed to pressure from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)? Yes, if one goes by the ICC’s revised stand on the controversial World Anti Doping Agency (Wada) code. The world cricket body has confirmed to DNA that it will not press Indian players to comply with the code till a formal decision is taken.
ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said on Wednesday that the council may seek a Wada code review. “We will ask them for a cricket-specific code or a relaxation of the whereabouts clause,” Lorgat said. “For the time being, we have referred the issue to our executive board. We will take the matter from there.
The issues need discussion with a broader range of people.” Lorgat pointed out that the ICC was bound to treat all cricketers equally. “The code cannot be country-specific. We will have to find out how to go about it at our executive board meeting,” he said. The ICC has told cricketers from other countries not to file information about their whereabouts too. The executive board, an all-powerful decision-making body, will meet next month.
The ICC decision comes about four weeks after the BCCI said it would not ask the Indian cricketers to sign the code as it was a breach of their constitutional right. The deadline for the 11 selected Indian players to sign the code was August 1.
An Indian cricket board official said it was a major victory. “We have been able to convince the ICC about our position,” he told DNA. “We have to wait and see what the ICC board will decide.”
The September 5-6 meeting of the working group of ICC’s international registered test pool, which was to discuss the Indian players’ concerns, has been cancelled. Former India captain Anil Kumble and BCCI secretary N Srinivasan were part of that group.
At an ICC function on Wednesday, Virender Sehwag said Team India had no problem being tested but did not want to reveal details about their whereabouts.
