NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – India have no plans to pull out of next month’s Champions Trophy over a rumbling controversy surrounding a former Indian player’s election to an International Cricket Council (ICC) panel, the Indian cricket board said yesterday.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been accused of using its clout to get former India spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan elected to the ICC Cricket Committee.
Sivaramakrishnan beat Australian Tim May in a second vote.
The ICC has cleared the BCCI but is considering referring the matter to its ethics officer after receiving a request from the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA), of which May is the chief executive.
Local media have speculated the Indian team might pull out of next month’s Champions Trophy, to be staged in England and Wales, in protest but BCCI vice president Rajeev Shukla ruled out any such possibility.
“I think there is no substance in these rumours, India will be participating in the Champions Trophy,” Shukla, also a union minister, told reporters.
