Indian Cricket Team Does Not Attend ICC Awards Function; ICC- BCCI Spat in Open

While the regalia of the LG ICC Awards 2011 was on in London, another battle was being pitched outside of it. With the Indian cricket team not in attendance, the veiled war is now out in the open with the ICC and the BCCI trading blows.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

There were four Indian cricketers nominated in the LG ICC Awards 2011 shortlist. However, the night though belonged largely to the England cricketers with only Mahendra Singh Dhoni set to receive the Spirit of Cricket Award for the Ian Bell recall which really came as no surprise to anyone within cricket circles. However, there were greater concerns and what seemed like making a mountain out of a molehill turned into another power struggle.

The LG ICC Awards have generally seen the function being attended by the various nominated cricketers as well as the host cricket team and the visiting cricket team or teams at the time. By that yardstick, both, the England and Indian cricket teams should have been in attendance in London, particularly after the conclusion of the fourth India England ODI. However, only members of one team showed up while several awardees were also missing from the function.

The reason for the absence of the Indian cricket team was explained away by the team manager that the team was not made aware and by the time the invitation was sent out to the team at the eleventh hour, several members of the Indian cricket team had already made their own plans for shopping and sight seeing.

However, what seemed perplexing was that this is the eighth edition of the LG ICC Awards 2011 and surely the team management and indeed the BCCI would have been aware of the protocol. Besides this was not a surprise or secret awards function because the ICC even announced the short listed cricketers well in advance. It seemed hard to explain that the Indian cricketers could not clear their schedule for the award ceremony that is supported to be the pinnacle of their field like the Oscars is to Hollywood.

That amongst the several Indian cricketers in England, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian captain, was one of them and yet the Indian skipper was conspicuous by his absence seemed like a hard one to understand.

The ICC though have not been watching the proceedings lying down. In fact the ICC Chief Executive, Haroon Lorgat, slammed reports that the Indian cricket team had received the invitation at the late hour. If anything it appears that the ICC may be upping the ante following the words of the team management to dig up communication for proof that the BCCI was plausibly the first cricket board to be informed about the awards and that the faux pas then was not on the part of the ICC but something the BCCI needs to explain.

While the Indian cricketers appear to have been taken off guard, there would appear that while the BCCI is sitting mum, there has to be something more than what meets the eye because at the moment, the whole scenario seems to be one of being lost for words by the only people who may have the answers.