India say no to ICC agreement

Jaipur: Sharad Pawar, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), made it clear yesterday that India will not sign the Members Participation Agreement (MPA).

Pawar said that the MPA, which deals will all marketing aspects of ICC events from 2007 till 2015, is unacceptable for India in its present form.

Though the ICC says that players will benefit from the agreement, Pawar feels otherwise: "On the contrary, it will harm the players. We need to find a way out of the situation."

The ICC has made it clear that if India does not sign the agreement, their right to host the 2011 World Cup will stand cancelled.

However, Pawar, being a politician, was very diplomatic when he said: "I do not foresee a situation where India will have to pull out of ICC tournaments. We will try and solve the matter. I also don't think we will land up in a situation where we will not be playing in the World Cup."

Although it appears India is determined to take on the ICC, Dave Richardson, the ICC General Manager, said: "There is no fight between the BCCI and the ICC. I don't think India would take any drastic steps."

Acknowledging India's role in international cricket, Richardson said: "India is a key nation among the cricket playing countries of the world. They have worked hard to clinch a prominent position in world cricket."

Undermining the simmering row between the BCCI and the ICC, Richardson made it clear that a fight happens only if two parties are involved.

"It has been heated statements from one side only. As far as the ICC is concerned, it is business as usual. We are here to conduct the tournament. Yes, there are some sticky issues which we will try our best to resolve."

Meanwhile, Lalit Modi, the BCCI vice-president and president of the Rajasthan Cricket Associations seems to have realised that his recent statements about the ICC were too inflammatory.

He had claimed that ICC was bullying the India board and that his team would not hesitate to pull out of all ICC tournaments.

Softening his stand yesterday, he said: "We will do it only in a worst case scenario."