By IANS
Melbourne : A top Indian cricket board official has warned overseas players joining the breakaway tournaments like the Indian Cricket League (ICL) of serious repercussions, raising the question whether they have “safeguards to protect against match-fixing”.
“To have a credible tournament one must not just look at the money but, more importantly, whether the competition is sanctioned, whether it’s going to have the (necessary) infrastructure, whether it’s going to be around for a while, and whether it’s investing in the growth of the game – or just profiting from it,” Lalit Modi, a vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), told Sun Herald.
“Do they have enough safeguards to protect against match-fixing? Do they have the right officials – such as match referees and umpires – and do they have the appropriate rules involving anti-doping policies and playing guidelines?” asked Modi, who is also chairman and commissioner of the BCCI-sanctioned Indian Premier League (ICL), a Twenty20 competition created to challenge the ICL.
Modi, also head of the BCCI’s marketing sub-committee, was speaking on the ongoing fight between New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and the New Zealand players association over the contractual dispute. Seven Kiwi players – Shane Bond, Daryl Tuffey, Hamish Marshall, Craig McMillan, Nathan Astle, Chris Cairns and Chris Harris – have signed for ICL and some of them still want to play for New Zealand.
NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan has already directed his selectors to overlook the rebels who have signed with the ICL.
Modi defended the launch of IPL.
“We have all decided that in the interests of development … we will try as far as legally possible to discourage our players from joining any rebel league that is organised just for self-profit,” he said.
“The BCCI and the other Test-playing nations are non-profit organisations. They invest 100 percent of their earnings back into the game. This is essential to ensure we build the best infrastructure for the players and fans alike.”
Eight franchisees will play 59 matches in 44 days in the maiden IPL tournament from April 18.
The teams will play against each other on a home-and-away basis with seven matches being played at home. The top four franchisees in the league will contest the semi-finals and the victorious semi finalists will meet in the final. All matches will be played over the weekends.
Many top overseas players, like Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Stephen Fleming, Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, Graeme Smith, Daniel Vettori, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammed Yousuf, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chaminda Vaas, Shaun Pollock, Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan will be seen in action in the IPL.