DNA India
Mumbai, Jul 26: The Indian Board has been caught on a wrong foot.
Even as the Board of Control for Cricket in India has denied permission to VVS Laxman and Piyush Chawla to play in county cricket — because of the presence of players associated with the banned Indian Cricket League in their sides — Indian cricket’s top icon spent over a week rubbing shoulders with ICL players.
It has now come to light that Sachin Tendulkar played alongside the likes of Dinesh Mongia and Chris Harris, during his recent stay in England. Tendulkar was involved in a long partnership with Mongia on July 27 when their team, Lashings World XI, beat St Bede’s School Headmaster’s XI.
Tendulkar scored a magnificent 98, while Mongia hit a 41-ball 72 in a 30-over game that the Lashings won by 80 runs. Tendulkar and Mongia had in fact opened the innings against St Bede’s School Headmasters XI at the school ground in Essex.
Before that match, Tendulkar and Mongia and Harris made substantial contributions in Lashings’ win over Eastbourne College XI on July 24. In that match, Mongia batted at No.3 while Tendulkar had opened the innings and scored 32. Interestingly, Mumbai left-arm spinner Nilesh Kulkarni was also part of the Lashings’ squad.
When pointed out, BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said it could have been an oversight. “He may not have been aware of our policy and we were not aware of the players involved there,” Shah said, ruling out any relaxation on the Board’s policy vis-a-vis the ICL players.
“We’ll suitably advise the players in future,” he said and reiterated that Laxman and Chawla, who have sought permission to play for Nottinghamshire and Hampshire respectively, would not be allowed to turn up for the counties.
Meanwhile, there are confusing signals over the proposed Champions T20 League. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the league is going to be a non-starter because of the ECB’s no-ban-for-ICL-players policy. However, ECB officials maintained that it is still confident of sorting differences with BCCI over ICL players.
“We’re confident of pulling off the tournament,” an ECB spokesman told DNA. IPL chairman Lalit Modi was not available for comment.