da dobrowin： Irked by the pressure tactics of the two continental cricket bodiesregarding participation in the Asian Test Championship, some seniorBoard of Control for Cricket in India members demanded that thecountry pull out of the Asian Cricket Council
18-Aug-2001Irked by the pressure tactics of the two continental cricket bodiesregarding participation in the Asian Test Championship, some seniorBoard of Control for Cricket in India members demanded that thecountry pull out of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC).Taking exception to the recent statements of the ACC and Asian CricketFoundation (ACF) that if the Indian government failed to clear itsteam, the championship would be held without India, senior BCCImembers said the Board should not hesitate to withdraw from the ACCitself.Putting pressure on the government or blaming it for non-clearancewould be detrimental to the game in the country, senior board memberstold PTI in New Delhi.According to them, the government is in the process of clearing theteam but ACF’s threats that the tournament would be held withoutIndia, could not be tolerated, they said adding “if it comes to that,the BCCI should withdraw from the ACC itself”.Maintaining that the country’s pride and prestige should takeprecedence over matters of playing cricket against any country, theyquestioned ACF’s decision to go ahead with the tournament withoutIndia.”We are at a loss to understand as to how ACF could take a decisionwithout involving BCCI” they said adding “the venues for theChampionship have not yet been finalised at all nor (has) the ACFresponded to BCCI’s letter of objection that Bangladesh should not bethe venue for the final of ATC”.They said BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele had written to ACF as early asJune 20 and so far the ACF has not responded with its decision inwriting. Lele has objected to Dhaka being the venue for the final andstated that it should be played in either of the countries figuring inthe final match.The ACF has given time to the BCCI till Monday afternoon to get thegovernment’s clearance for India’s participation in the Championship.The Board members expressed optimistic that the government was likelyto clear the Indian team’s participation in the ATC but said suchpressure tactics by the ACF would mean that the Asian body has norespect for the BCCI, one of the founder members of the ACC and also along term full member of the International Cricket Council.Based on these credentials of BCCI, the Indian cricket administrationshould not hesitate to withdraw from the Asian Cricket Council, theysaid.