The working committee meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at New Delhi yesterday made a decision that has been widely viewed as the first step in a long drawn battle with the Indian Government. Following the Government's ambiguous stance on playing against Pakistan, the BCCI has decided not to take part in any events involving Pakistan. This includes fixtures conducted under the aegis of the International Cricket Council (ICC) like the ICC KnockOut Trophy and the World Cup.

"In the absence of clear-cut guidelines in this matter, the Board has decided to play only in bilateral or triangular series involving Test playing countries. We will not participate in tournaments such as Asia Cup, ICC Knock-out series (2002) and the 2003 World Cup because we do not know whether we would be able to play certain sides, like Pakistan, or not," said Board President AC Muthiah. Only recently, the Indian Government issued a directive to the BCCI prohibiting them from taking part in tournaments in certain offshore venues including Sharjah, Singapore and Toronto. Citing the reason that these venues fostered irregularities like betting and matchfixing, the Government made a unilateral decision not to play in these venues for three years.

The agenda for working committee meetings of the BCCI is always laid out well in advance. In this case, there was no mention of this crucial decision prior to the meeting although the BCCI made it clear that it would discuss a host of issues, including the irregularities in ticket sales at Goa where the last One-Dayer against Australia took place, the appointment of the BCCI media manager and the affiliation of four new states to the BCCI. The fact the Board President came out with this announcement soon after the meeting took reporters and analysts by surprise.

It is quite clear the BCCI has not taken kindly to the Government clipping its wings in this regard. After withdrawing from the triangular series in Sharjah, India came up for a lot of criticism in international fora. As is to be expected the Pakistan Cricket Board came out strongly against the BCCI and went to the extent of asking the ICC to take some disciplinary action. With the ICC ruling out the possibility of any disciplinary action on the basis that the Sharjah tourney was not an ICC endorsed event, the controversy subsided.

However the latest decision taken by the BCCI has put the Government in a spot. Only recently, India put in a strong bid to host the ICC KnockOut Trophy which is scheduled for September next year. The hosting of the event was already in doubt, with the Indian Income Tax authorities not withdrawing tax exemptions that were earlier prevalent. The BCCI is doing its best to secure the tax exemption and has suggested that it would even go to the courts if necessary. ICC President Malcolm Gray has given the BCCI time till April 30 to secure the tax exemption. If the BCCI fail to secure the exemption, the event will be shifted elsewhere.

In case the BCCI does secure the right to host the ICC KnockOut, the Government will be in a strange and very embarrassing predicament. The BCCI has said it will not take part in the tournament unless the Government comes up with a "clear-cut" stance on the matter. It's not often that a team hosts an ICC event without taking part. Indeed, would be a case of throwing a party without taking part in the occasion...

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