79 players granted BCCI amnesty after ICL exodus

N Srinivasan

MUMBAI: The BCCI has granted amnesty to 79 current and 11 former players after they snapped ties with the unauthorized Indian Cricket League (ICL), clearing the decks for their return to mainstream fold.

Announcing the major ICL exodus, the BCCI said in a statement that altogether 101 players and others availed the cricket board's time-bound amnesty offer and deserted the rebel league bankrolled by the Essel Group.

By snapping ties with ICL, the cricketers immediately became eligible for domestic cricket and would also be considered for international matches once they complete their one year cooling off period, the BCCI said.

"The BCCI, after scrutinizing their requests, has written to the concerned state associations that these players are eligible to play in the domestic tournaments for this year", Board secretary N Srinivasan said.

Among the 101 players and others who have deserted ICL were former internationals Rohan Gavaskar, Deep Dasgupta (Bengal), Dinesh Mongia, Reetinder Sodhi (Punjab) and Hemang Badani (Tamil Nadu).

The 11 former cricketers who have quit the ICL are ex-Test skipper Ajit Wadekar, spin legend Erapalli Prasanna and 1983 World Cup-winning Indian squad members Sandeep Patil, Madan Lal and Balwinder Singh Sandhu.

Most of them were tied up with the ICL as coaches.

Significantly, India's only World Cup-winning skipper Kapil Dev, who is the chairman of the ICL's Executive Board, has not severed his relations with the league along with former Test stumper and ex-Chief Selector Kiran More.

The BCCI secretary said that guidelines with respect to participation in Indian Premier League will be intimated in due course.
The Indian Board has already decided that such persons will have to serve a one-year cooling off period before becoming eligible to play international cricket for the country.

Other ex-Test cricketers who rejoined the BCCI fold include Sandeep Patil, Madan Lal, Karsan Ghavri, Balwinder Sandhu, Ashok Malhotra, Pranab Roy, Bharat Reddy, Rajesh Chauhan and Atul Wassan, Srinivasan informed.

Eleven cricketers of the Punjab Cricket Association, including ODI discard Dinesh Mongia, have returned to its fold while 13 and eight players have returned to the Tamil Nadu and Hyderabad cricket associations respectively.

Meanwhile, though the ICL has been virtually emptied out of its Indian players, the rebel league put up a brave front and said that the league is not shutting down and will recruit new talent as and when it's needed.