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Jaipur, Oct 15: The International Cricket Council (ICC) today sought to play down the recent war of words with the BCCI, saying it did not expect India to take the extreme step of not playing in future World Cups.
"Why would India do that? They have worked hard to be here. India are key part of world cricket and we want them to be so," ICC general manager (operations) Dave Richardson said.
"There is no big fight. It has been heated from one side but as far as we are concerned, it is business as usual. There are some sticky points but we will try and resolve them," Richardson said on the sidelines of a function to inaugurate the Rajasthan Cricket Association Academy.
BCCI president Sharad Pawar inaugurated the Academy at the function also attended by other board members, including secretary Niranjan Shah, RCA chief and BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi, former BCCI chief and Punjab CA president I S Bindra and treasurer N
Srinivasan.
The BCCI has refused to sign the Members Participation Agreement which governs marketing and other aspects of all ICC events from 2007 to 2015 and the confrontation between the two parties reached a threshold point when Modi said the game's world governing body was bullying the Board.
ICC chief Malcolm Speed responded by saying Modi's remarks were "inflammatory and provocative", only for the latter retaliate with the threat that the BCCI might pull out of all future ICC events if the MPA was not amended suitably.
Modi, however, later toned down his pullout threat, saying he was quoted out of context.
Richardson reiterated his earlier statement that the new MPA took care of India's concerns. "The agreement is not new. There are a few things to be ironed out but we believe it can be done," he said. (Agencies)
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