Kiwi media lambast BCCI for boycotting ICL players

The BCCI's insistence on giving a cold shoulder to any player associated with the Indian Cricket League has infuriated the media here which has described former Board secretary Niranjan Shah as a "travelling goon" for his comments against ICL's Kiwi recruits.

"India great team, shame about the Board they are representing" -- read the headline of leading local daily 'New Zealand Herald's write-up by Dylan Cleaver.

Cleaver described Shah, here as the Indian team's administrative manager, as a "traveling goon." "It's one thing to pull two players out of a festival match in case they're contaminated by ex-ICL bacterium Hamish Marshall.

"It's two things to have New Zealand Cricket general manager of cricket Geoff Allott ring ICL virus Daryl Tuffey to ask him to withdraw from a State Championship match.

"But it's a truly absurd thing to flex their muscles in the commentary box for fear that Ravi Shastri (IPL) and Craig McMillan (ICL) might accidentally exchange bodily fluids that could eventually infect all the right-thinking people of the cricketing world," the newspaper wrote.

"The BCCI's travelling goon, Niranjan Shah, managed to keep a straight face when he told TV3: 'As far as we are concerned any commentator or somebody involved with an unauthorised tournament declared by the BCCI, our people will not take part in it'."

"Good grief. You can only laugh at their logic, though denying anybody the right to earn a living is ultimately not that funny," the writer added.

The local media slammed the BCCI for pushing New Zealand Cricket (NZC) to disassociate itself from any player who was involved in the rebel league.

At the start of the tour, BCCI had stopped Sachin Tendulkar and Dinesh Karthik playing in a match at Wellington, as Hamish Marshall, who had worn the Royal Bengal Tiger colours in ICL, was part of the local side.

The newspaper said it was none of BCCI's "business to dictate to another board, or television network, how to run their business."

Although the ICC had recently brought both the BCCI-sponsored IPL and the Essel Group-promoted ICL across the table in Johannesburg, the issue of recognising the ICL remained unresolved.