The world body, sources said, was unhappy with Shastri questioning on air the authenticity of the technology used for the Decision Review System (DRS) during the 2011 India-England series.
Shastri was not among the mix of commentators during the recently-held Champions Trophy. Sources said ICC had expressed its reservations over Shastri to BCCI, and even accused BCCI of prodding Shastri to make the remark.
"The ICC spoke about this issue with the Indian board. ICC said Shastri's comments were influenced by BCCI as he was contracted by the Indian board and that the commentator was only promoting BCCI's stand on the issue. This is not true at all," a BCCI official told TOI on Friday.
"Some of the cricketers were contracted with the BCCI as commentators, but the board only tells them to avoid speaking on selection matters, nothing else," the official added.
As per the rule, the ICC and the production team of the broadcaster mutually decide the names of the commentators for an event. Sources said one can't be in the commentary team during an ICC event if his or her name is not there in the wish-list of the world governing body. Ditto for BCCI.
"Whatever Shastri said on air are his personal views. He has been an international cricketer of repute and has the right to his opinion. No one can influence that.
To imagine that BCCI had told Shastri to take an anti DRS stand on air is completely misconstruing facts. Shastri is known on the circuit to speak his mind no matter what," another source said.
Shastri was not available for comment, while ICC denied having 'blacklisted' Shastri. Shastri dropped out of last year's World T20 championship as the commentary roster offered to him clashed with his personal commitments.
However, during the 2011 World Cup in the sub-continent, he was a regular member of the commentary team.
Sources said that none of the commentators are contracted with BCCI as of today. "Both Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar's contracts ended earlier this year," they said. The new contacts are due for renewal.
BCCI's stand on DRS hasn't changed since. The richest cricket board continues to oppose the compulsory use of DRS and its battle with the ICC is still on.
0 comments:
Post a Comment