Ganguly, Pathan warned for breaching ICC clause

The cricketers feature in a marketing campaign for Tata Indicom which is a competitor of Hutch, the ICC partner for the Champions Trophy.

The International Cricket Council has warned Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly and left-arm paceman Irfan Pathan for breaching its ambush marketing clause during the ongoing Champions Trophy.

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Confirming the development, the Indian Cricket Board said on Monday that ICC had indeed written to it about the breach and it was taking "necessary steps" to ensure the contract issue does not return to haunt the team.

"We received a letter from the ICC on this issue. Two days ago, we asked the players through the team management about it as we needed to cross-check ICC's claims that Sourav Ganguly and Irfan Pathan had breached the ambush marketing clause," BCCI Secretary SK Nair said.

Ganguly and Pathan feature in a marketing campaign by Tata Indicom which happens to be in direct competition with another cellular service provider and ICC partner for Champions Trophy, Hutch.

According to the ambush marketing clause of the Player's Contract, players are not allowed to endorse a product which is in direct conflict with the official sponsor for a period of 45 days before, during and after an ICC tournament.

Nair said such "aberrations" had taken place in the past during the World Cup in South Africa and the BCCI was "concerned" over this new complaint. More

"We advised the players concerned to go through the complaint and they got back to us. It is a matter of urgency and has to be stopped forthwith, if it is happening. The team management and the players have been told to be in touch with the ICC also on this subject.

"We (BCCI) have acted upon the issue without loss of time, the BCCI has written suitably to ICC and also asked Tata Indicom to refrain from it," he said.