Deadline for India is High Noon

David Lloyd13 April 2012

Postcards from India - gallery

Cricket's governing body today set India a deadline in the row which threatens to paralyse the world game.

The International Cricket Council told the Indians that they have until noon on Friday local time to announce whether they intend to select Virender Sehwag for the First Test against England.

If they do pick him, then the match, which is due to start on Monday in Mohali, will not go ahead and the implications would be immense.

Batsman Sehwag, 23, is at the centre of the dispute because he is due to serve a one-match suspension.

The Indians say he has already served the ban because he did not play in their final "Test" in South Africa, which ended today in victory for the home side.

But the ICC says that game was not an official Test match because both teams refused to accept former England captain Mike Denness as match referee. So, argues the ICC, Sehwag still has a ban to serve and cannot play against England. However, the Indians are still insisting that their team will be named "on merit" and refused to rule Sehwag out of contention.

Chandu Borde, a former Test captain and head of the fiveman selection committee that arrived in Jaipur today, has been given a free hand by Indian cricket chief Jagmohan Dalmiya.

Borde said today: "We will be selecting the team on merit. As far as I am concerned he is available. There is no directive from the cricket control board.

"I am under no pressure at all because we are going to select players on merit. There is no pressure on me or the selection committee."

England's position is that they will not take part on Monday if Sehwag is selected and, in those circumstances, would consider scrapping the tour and flying home.

It is by no means certain that Sehwag will be selected. He was only in the side due to injury and has played just twice for his country. However, he made a century on debut.

One get-out for the Indians, while saving face, would be to pick him for the squad but subsequently omit him from the side now Sadogoppan Ramesh is fit again.

But, after today's open letter from the ICC, it is clear that the Indians have to say exactly what they intend to do by 12 noon local time on Friday (4.30am our time). The letter was sent by ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed. In it, he stressed the importance of solving the dispute well in advance of Monday's match. Speed's letter says: "It is vitally important we avoid any risk of injury to the public, players or officials should the ICC referee refuse to allow Virender Sehwag to play in the match.

"If this issue is not resolved well ahead of the match it is possible that it will take place at the start of the match in a highly charged and volatile environment that will exacerbate risk of injury."

Speed ends his letter with a polite but clear appeal to Dalmiya. "Might I respectfully suggest that you consult with the members of your Board with a view to reaching a decision that is in the best interests of the great game of cricket," he says.

The only conciliatory gesture in the letter is the offer to discuss the Indian board's " concerns"at the next meeting of the ICC executive board.

ICC president Malcolm Gray added: "I just hope that they will make the best of things and see that the issue is rather silly.

"It's bad enough that the Test series in South Africa has been affected by this without the series against England being affected as well."

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