Despite messages, overt and covert, from the other parties involved, the BCCI was really in no mood to relent on the ICL ban.
Despite the eagerness of the ICC to broker peace between the BCCI and the ICL, the BCCI went to Monday’s ‘peace talks’ in Johannesburg adamant it would not budge from its previous stand. According to sources, the only concession the BCCI was willing to make at the previous meeting was the ICL shut shop and become one IPL team, something the ICL could never agree to.
While it is as yet unclear why the talks this time failed, despite the ICC brass saying it was a friendly meeting, the Board itself did not expect much from it. After all, as one official told HT over the weekend, “we don’t need the ICL. In fact, it is the other round.”
The BCCI was reportedly also not happy with the ICC for issuing a media release a couple of days before the meeting, saying they were hopeful of a reaching a ‘mutually acceptable solution’.
The Board apparently did not know of this release before it was sent.
But the ICC probably has no choice but to try for a solution, the ICL has just too many international players on its roster. More than one domestic board has reportedly approached the ICC asking them to broker peace.
Some domestic boards themselves are under pressure from their own players' unions, with some unions contemplating moving court over violations of banned players’ rights to employment.
{{/usCountry}}Some domestic boards themselves are under pressure from their own players' unions, with some unions contemplating moving court over violations of banned players’ rights to employment.
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