Roadblock to Indias Pak tour

India's tour of Pakistan early next year continues to draw apprehensions from the government on account of security as it is reluctant to risk the lives of its players in the nation which has seen a series of terror attacks in the last one year.

The government is apprehensive about the security of it players and the source said, ''if even a scratch comes to Sachin, what would happen to the bilateral relations.'' ''The risk is not worth running,'' they added.

With the prevailing situation in Pakistan, ''no government would take a decision which would risk the lives of its players,'' sources said.

The final decision on the tour, scheduled from January 6 to February 19, will be taken within two weeks on the basis of the assessment by a high-level team of officials that will be going to Pakistan shortly.

The source cited the recent terror attack on a national sporting event in Peshawar to cite the example of the security situation in Pakistan.

BCCI president to meet ICL representatives

The Indian board has agreed to meet officials of the unsanctioned ICL, the first time the two sides will have met since the league was set up in April 2007. This was one of the two major decisions taken on the first day of the ICC board meeting in Dubai, the other being the selection of four Test series where the umpire review trials will continue.

ICL officials have welcomed the proposed meeting with Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, and said they hoped for an "early resolution" to their quest for official recognition. However, a senior BCCI official said that nothing much should be read into the ICC board's decision, "because it does not in any way indicate a result".

The ICL has sought official sanction under Rule 32 of the ICC operations manual which pertains to authorised unofficial cricket. But siginificantly, Manohar and Lalit Modi, a BCCI vice-president, are on a five-member ICC sub-committee that has worked on "new regulations governing official and unofficial cricket" that were discussed at the board meeting today. ICL officials, however, indicated that they expected Manohar to meet Subhash Chandra, the chairman of Essel group that owns ICL, "very soon". "We will be in dialogue with BCCI and we hope the outcome suits all," Chandra said. "The ICL has always worked towards promoting the game and players," Himanshu Mody, the ICL's business head, told Cricinfo. "We hope the outcome of discussions between the BCCI and ICL will benefit players at large. We look forward to an early resolution."

The BCCI, apparently, views the situation differently. "The only resolution that can be looked at is one where the ICL agrees to operate within the BCCI's parameters," the official said. "Till then, the announcement of the meeting is just a statement of fact, and nothing more. It's not as significant as it is being made out to be." Manohar will provide a written report of his discussions with the ICL to the ICC board.

Since its inception, the ICL has been vehemently opposed by the Indian board, which has banned players associated with the league from all forms of official cricket and barred them from using any of its facilities. The ICL has, meanwhile, been pressing the ICC unsuccessfully for official recognition of their unsanctioned venture for several months. Subsequently they requested the ICC for a meeting, and Chandra met David Morgan, the ICC president, in London last week to present the Twenty20 league's case for recognition. The ICL is hoping for a status similar to the one that has been granted to the Stanford venture in the West Indies, but the crucial difference is that the Caribbean tournament has been endorsed by its home board, the WICB.

SLC-BCCI deal 'quite unacceptable' - Morgan

David Morgan, the ICC president, has said the US$70 million proposal between Sri Lanka Cricket and IPL chairman Lalit Modi is "quite unacceptable behaviour against the background of Sri Lanka's signed agreement with the ECB".

The Daily Telegraph has quoted Morgan condemning the deal, which, if ratified by the BCCI, would force the abandonment of Sri Lanka's Test series in England in May 2009. According to the report, Morgan pointed out that only last month the ICC reaffirmed the primacy of Test cricket with the unanimous agreement of all Full Members.

Sri Lanka's tour is due to run from April 21 to May 30, while the IPL is scheduled for April 10-May 25. The series clashes with the latter stages of the IPL's second season, and a number of the Sri Lankan squad - such as captain Mahela Jayawardene, Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakkara - have signed lucrative contracts to play in the IPL.

Sri Lanka's sports minister, Gamini Lokuge, asked the board to release players for the IPL, indicating that Sri Lanka could be forced to field a second-string side to England. In September, Arjuna Ranatunga, the interim committee chief of SLC, insisted the tour would go ahead. "We have a memorandum of understanding with the England and Wales Cricket Board for the tour and we must honour that," he said.

Sri Lanka's one-day tour of Pakistan was cancelled in April-May this year because the dates clashed with the IPL's inaugural tournament.

Counties free to pick players - Pawar

Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, has said that all teams participating in the proposed Champions League have the freedom to include players of their choice for the US$5 million multi-club Twenty20 tournament, even it means including players with ties to the unauthorized Indian Cricket League (ICL). But he placed the onus on letting such teams go through on the countries they represent and warned that the BCCI would then have the freedom to take its decision on the issue.

"This is not within the BCCI's jurisdiction," Pawar told Cricinfo. "They can do what they want . If any country takes any decision on this, they have every right to do so. They have the freedom to take a decision on the teams they choose to represent them (in the Champions League). But then, we also have the freedom to take our decision on the issue later."

Pawar's statement turns the spotlight firmly on the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), which is the only national board to have allowed players associated with the ICL to play in its domestic circuit. The ECB has permitted around 25 such cricketers to represent 15 of its 18 counties after it faced legal action from the ICL, which was backed by the country's strong trade laws that protect the rights of individuals. The Champions League, which is being powered by the BCCI, is expected to feature the top two Twenty20 domestic teams from India, England, Australia and South Africa. An ECB spokesperson had said last week that it would wait for the tournament rules to be finalised before taking a stand on the issue.

Asked to elaborate on the possibility of English county teams with ICL players qualifying for the Champions League, Pawar referred to the ICC's stand on the ICL and said that all countries "have been informed about it". The ICC has clarified that it would go by the BCCI's policy towards ICL. "The ICL is a domestic event that takes place in India so our rules prescribe that any decision as to whether an event be regarded as official or not must be made by the country that event is played in," Dave Richardson, the ICC's acting chief executive, said.

The BCCI has cut off all official links with players associated with the ICL, which was launched last year before the BCCI's high-profile Indian Premier League (IPL). Asked whether the BCCI would be more generous now, especially towards young Indian players in the ICL, Pawar said, "If anybody approaches us, we will consider their case."

Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman and prime mover behind the Champions League, had previously told Cricinfo that teams with players associated with ICL would not be invited for the tournament "under any circumstance". Cricket Australia is drawing up the competition's rules, which are expected to be finalised during the ICC annual conference in Dubai at the end of the month.

Pawar also said that despite the hugely successful IPL, Test cricket remains the BCCI's "first priority" and said that the Indian board would soon discuss the ICC's proposal to hold a Test championship. "The BCCI is definitely working for the future of Test cricket," Pawar said. "We are clear and confident that Test cricket has a future. We have digested one-day cricket, we have digested Twenty20, but the first preference is always Test cricket. My first preference is always Test cricket. We will discuss the Test championship proposal."

Another on-field row can end Bhajji's career: Bindra

Indian Premier League (IPL) governing board member I S Bindra has cautioned off-spinner Harbhajan Singh to watch his on-field behaviour after the slapping row with S Sreesanth as another spat with fellow players could spell the end of his career.

"There is no question for any repetition, we cannot have tolerance of any repeat actions of this nature," Bindra told The Herald.

"Once punished for such an offence, a player cannot make the same indiscretion again," he added.

Harbhajan was banned from this edition of the IPL for slapping India teammate S Sreesanth and Bindra said he has been left deeply disappointed by the off-spinner considering that he had been urged to control his temper after the racism row in Australia.

"He has disappointed all of us. I personally warned him after Australia, I told him he needed to be all the more careful because 'you are under watch, you are under probation'," he recalled.

"He has had problems on a couple of occasions in the past. He was warned by the association that if he doesn't listen to the advice then next is a hard knock on his knuckles," he added.

The slap-gate, as it has come to be described, has cost the tweaker almost Rs. 3 crore in match fee and his woes do not end at that as he is still awaiting the BCCI disciplinary committee verdict on the matter.

Bindra said the BCCI and IPL's tough stance on the matter showed that Indian cricket was not willing to take a lenient view of the misconduct by its players.

"People have accused the board of being soft, but this shows we're not trying to sweep things under the carpet," he said.

The former BCCI chief said it was unfair to compare the racism row in Australia with the slapping incident in IPL as Harbhajan's conduct was markedly different in both cases.

"As for the case in Australia, the overwhelming view from the Indian team was that he was not guilty of what he was accused, and therefore we supported him," he explained.

"On this occasion there was no question he was guilty, and we have punished him. We cannot mix the two incidents, we will punish players if they are guilty," he added.

BCCI announces venues for India-England winter series

Ahmedabad will host the first Test between India and England when Michael Vaughan's team come to India for a two-Test and seven-ODI series in November-December, the final itinerary of which will be announced soon by the BCCI.

The second Test of the series will be played in Mumbai before the two teams lock horns in a One-day series.

The first of the seven One-dayers will be played in the capital.

Indore, Rajkot, Jamshedpur, Cuttack, Guwahati and Kanpur will host the remaining matches of the series.

"The final itinerary will be decided on the basis of logistics," BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said in a statement.