Non-India cricketers believe BCCI dominates ICC: FICA survey

MELBOURNE: More than two-thirds of international players in a recent survey conducted by FICA believe that Indian cricket board exerts unfair influence on ICC decision-making but 40 per cent of them said they were willing to skip national duty for playing in the cash-rich IPL run by the BCCI.

Asked if ICC decision-making was influenced unfairly by the power of BCCI, 69 per cent said 'yes' while 31 per cent answered 'don't know'.

None of the respondents gave a definitive 'no' in the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations survey of 45 international players during the recent World Cup in the subcontinent.

No Indian player is a member of FICA. FICA chief executive Tim May, who released the survey results, said the findings raised important issues, with 46 per cent of the players saying the structure and composition of the ICC executive board should be reviewed.

"Players have highlighted that the governance of the game is a serious issue. FICA have continually advocated for a review of the game's governance. Its present structure is outdated, full of conflicts, cronyism and far from best practice," he said.

Interestingly, nearly a third of players polled said they would retire early from international cricket to play exclusively in Indian Premier League, citing fears over fixture clashes curbing their participation in IPL.

Around 40 per cent of players feel that given the magnitude of salaries being offered by the IPL, they could envisage a day where they would rank their obligations to IPL and other T20 events ahead of obligations to their home boards.

And, 94 per cent of the players believed that superior salaries offered by the IPL would motivate younger players to hone their skills principally to Twenty20.

Only six per cent of players polled believed that decisions at ICC board level were made "in the best interests of cricket", while 49 per cent felt decisions were made according to "party lines or best interests of the country that they are representing". The remaining players were "unsure".

"The Indian Premier League continues to be popular with the players, and its superior pay structures for the players, continue to challenge players' priority over international cricket," May said.

"When players are able to earn over 10 times their annual salary from their boards, for just seven weeks cricket in the IPL, it would be foolhardy of boards to continue to schedule international matches during IPL and expect players to remain loyal to the board and international cricket," he said.

He, however, said that the ICC day-to-day management has improved considerably and the world body's image was tarnished as a result of decisions of the ICC chief executive and board committees.

In another important finding, 77 per cent of respondents believed that the five-year bans handed to three Pakistani cricketers by the ICC for spot-fixing offences last year were too lenient.

An ICC tribunal found Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif guilty of orchestrating deliberate pre-planned no-balls during the Test against England last August, and they received bans ranging from five to ten years.

None of the 45 players surveyed believed the penalties were too harsh, while 23 per cent considered the bans "fair".

Notably, FICA is not affiliated with players from Pakistan, besides from India and Zimbabwe.

"The vast number of players want significant penalties to be invoked against those who are found guilty of serious corruption offences," May said.

"Whilst 100 percent of players say that they will report any corrupt approaches made to them, 20 percent of them do not have confidence in the ICC to treat this information confidentially," said May.

May said the majority of the 45 players polled were more comfortable reporting corruption approaches to their team manager, than to the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit.

An overwhelming majority of the players polled strongly supported the Umpire Decision Review System with 97 per cent of them saying that the DRS should be made compulsory in all Test matches. India has been a staunch critic of the DRS.

82 per cent said the DRS made for better decision-making from umpires at the World Cup. However, 74 per cent of the players surveyed felt the World Cup in the subcontinent was still too long while 72 per cent backed the decision to reduce the number of teams in the next World Cup to 10. 91 per cent felt the Associate nations should have a chance to qualify.

The survey also revealed strong support for 50-over cricket with only 24 per cent of the players polled favoured a change in the format of ODIs. 39 per cent felt the cricket boards scheduled too many ODIs, reducing the public interest in the format.

The FICA survey revealed some good news for the ICC, with 94 per cent of players rating the recent World Cup in the subcontinent as "good" or above, compared to only 11 per cent giving the 2007 tournament that level of support.

Indian cricket team arrives in West Indies

PORT OF SPAIN (TRINIDAD): A depleted Indian cricket captain, sans senior players Sachin Tendulkar and regular captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, arrived for a limited overs series against the West Indies, starting on Saturday.

Smartly dressed in a tee and trousers, the Indian players landed on Wednesday at the Piarco International Airport and were received by officials of Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) and sponsors Digicel.

The Suresh Raina-led Indian side looked tired and exhausted after their long flight from Mumbai via London and Barbados.

Stand-in skipper Raina's eyes were blood-shot for lack of sleep and a few team members looked dishevelled from the exertions of a long, trans-Atlantic flight.

Even though he looked tired and sleepless, Raina exuded confidence that his young team will do whatever it takes to win the lone Twenty game and the five-match ODI series against the Caribbeans.

"It's a young side. The players want to do well for the country and themselves. They are extremely motivated," said Raina after arriving last evening.

Vice-captain Harbhajan Singh too opined that the starless Indian team would not be short of motivation in the upcoming series, irrespective of their relentless cricket schedule.

"These are young boys who are looking to build a career for itself. I don't think tiredness or fatigue would be a factor," said the off-spinner.

Team manager Amitabh Chowdhary said that irrespective of the long flight, the side would attend its' practice sessions as scheduled.

India will play a Twenty20 match in Trinidad (June 4) and five ODIs on June 6 (Trinidad), June 8 (Trinidad), June 11 (Antigua), June 13 (Antigua) and June 16 (Jamaica).

The one-day series would be followed by a three-match Test-rubber in Jamaica (June 20-June 24), Barbados (June 28-Jul 2) and Dominica (Jul 6-Jul 10).

The tickets for the one-off T20 match between India and West Indies has already been sold out and the ticket sales for the first two ODIs are also going on at a brisk pace.

Interestingly, the hectic response for the matches is a welcome surprise as both the sides are bereft of star value.

The Indian squad for the ODIs and the lone Twenty20 is without nine players who were part of the World Cup winning team under Dhoni.

The players missing out include the rested trio of Dhoni, Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, the injured troika of Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Ashish Nehra and an unwell Yuvraj Singh.

S Sreesanth and Piyush Chawla have been dropped. Dhoni and Zaheer will, however, join the team for the Test matches along with VVS Laxman, Murali Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Dravid, and Sreesanth.

The Caribbeans, meanwhile, are without explosive Chris Gayle and pace duo of Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach.

When India last toured the Caribbean Islands in 2006 under Rahul Dravid, the side scripted history by beating the home team (1-0 in a four match rubber) in a Test series for the first time in 35 years.

However, the team will certainly look to change the 1-4 thrashing it got in the five-match ODI series then.

Pakistan coach bears no grudge against Afridi

KARACHI: Pakistan cricket coach Waqar Younis does not harbour a grudge against Shahid Afridi and said he was sad to hear the former captain had decided to retire.

Afridi announced his retirement from international cricket this week after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) removed him as captain for the one-day series against Ireland.

The PCB were unhappy about Afridi's comments concerning perceived interference in his role during the tour of West Indies, where a dispute with Waqar came to a head.

"I am sad that he decided to retire," Waqar told reporters at Lahore airport after returning with the national team from Ireland. "I don't know why he took such a decision. But I have no personal grudge with him.

"I have only seen all this stuff in the media. I will be meeting with the board chairman to discuss the tour reports.

"But whatever has happened is not good for Pakistan cricket, which is progressing well despite us getting no international cricket at home."

Pakistan won the ODI series against West Indies with Afridi at the helm and drew the Test series under senior batsman Misbah-ul-Haq. They also beat Ireland in two ODIs with Misbah as captain.

Afridi faces disciplinary action for violating the PCB's code of conduct and they have terminated his contract.