BCCI defensive over guarantee money

KOLKATA: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be sticking to a ''defensive'' posture when it comes to handling the issue of realising it''s due guarantee money of $ 9 million from the ICC for the last World Cup. Even as the BCCI president, Jagmohan Dalmiya, said it would be going for a counter-claim from the GCC at a press conference on Friday, it''s unlikely that it would fire the first salvo towards the settlement of it''s dues.
Speaking to the TNN, informed sources in the Board said the BCCI president would be referring the issue before the working committee on July 2 for a final decision."The panel of Board''s lawyers, which includes eminent names like Kapil Sibal and Arun Jaitley, feel that it has a strong case as no legal agreement can force the players to go against their pre-existing contracts. Hence, if the IDI (ICC Development International) Limited moves to Court of Arbitration (CAS) demanding the compensation from us, we will be on a very good wicket," the sources said.
The IDI, incidentally, continued to withhold India''s share of guarantee money after it''s meeting in Monaco last week to offset part of the claims lodged by Global Cricket Corporation (GCC) in view of the compensation claims of the sponsors. The Indian cricketers had refused to agree to the restrictive sponsorship clauses in the Players'' Terms for the World Cup and participated in the tournament in South Africa only on amended terms, which ''diluted'' the original clauses.
The last IDI conclave, which was held under the chairmanship of new ICC president Ehsan Mani, pointed a finger at India for the protracted nature of the controversy. Hence in a new strategic move, the BCCI is now turning the ire on GCC for ''failing'' to exploit fully the marketing potential of the World Cup.
Dalmiya claimed that GCC was given marketing rights for the World Cup for a minimum guarantee of $ 550 million despite a higher bid of $ 666 million dollar by Zee TV. "At the outset, there was a loss of $ 116 million as it was thought at that time that GCC will do a better marketing of the World Cup so that ICC will earn more," he said, adding "but they (GCC) failed to do proper marketing and we as partners in IDI cannot remain silent."
Asked to comment on BCCI charges, Harish Thawani of Nimbus, the Indian arm of GCC said, "Right now, we cannot comment as the contract between the ICC and GCC is bound by a secrecy clause."