By IANS
New Delhi : The Indian cricket board Tuesday told those trying to join the upcoming Indian Cricket League (ICL) run by a television channel to choose between the parent body and the "parallel" tournament.
"The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) has declared as unauthorised any tournament that is not recognised by the board," said BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah.
"They (people) will have to take decision whether they want to be with the BCCI or the organisers (of ICL)," he said.
Shah was reacting to former captain Kapil Dev's unwavering stance he would not quit the ICL, which he has joined as the executive board chairman.
Kapil, India's lone World Cup-winning captain, said that he would not leave ICL even if he had to sacrifice the post of National Cricket Academy (NCA) chairman.
He said he has replied to the BCCI after it sought his views on joining the ICL. The ICL is being organised by Zee channel.
At its recent working committee meeting, the BCCI made it clear that it would have nothing to with the ICL and nobody would be allowed to work with both the organisations.
BCCI treasurer N. Srinivasan had said: "It is up to him (Kapil) to decide with whom he wants to stay. He can't be with both the bodies at the same time."
BCCI wrote to Kapil asking him not to accept the ICL post.
"They (BCCI) only wanted me to contribute to the game of cricket and when I am doing so they cannot challenge me. If I can do something for the game and the young cricketers through ICL, I will not budge," he maintained.
Kapil also made light of the BCCI threat that it would stop the pension to former cricketers who join the ICL.
Kiran More, former India wicketkeeper and ex-chairman of selectors, and ex-batsman Sandeep Patil have also joined the ICL board along with Australian Dean Jones and former England captain Tony Greg.
Zee group boss Subhas Chandra launched the ICL in April, declaring a $1 billion corpus fund for the unprecedented tournament.