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BCCI didn't pressurise ICC on ICL issue: Arendse

Johannesburg: Former Cricket South Africa President Norman Arendse has rubbished ex-IPL chairman Lalit Modi's claims that the ICC was pressurised by the BCCI to ban the ICL.

Modi had claimed that the ICC constitution was changed in dealing with the ICL issue but Arendse said clauses were added to its operating manual to clarify what constituted disapproved cricket.

“There were no undue processes, incentives offered or pressure exerted on the ICC to outlaw the ICL,” Arendse, who was a member of the ICC's executive board at the time when the ICL and IPL were being conceptualised, told ESPNcricinfo.

Arendse, who served as CSA President in 2007 and 2008, said, “The issue of the IPL was tabled at an executive meeting.

“The BCCI informed the board of the ICL and the IPL and said that because the IPL was their creation, they were not prepared to endorse the ICL and give their players permission to play in it or for it to use their grounds,” he said.

Real threat

ICL and IPL — the two Twenty20 leagues— were the first sign that cricket was venturing into club mode from country and Arendse said the advent of ICL presented a threat to the ICC's international calendar.

“There was concern at the time that there was a very real threat to international cricket and we could be seeing Kerry Packer number two,” Arendse said.

“There was some talk of a franchise league being started in the USA and there was also an idea for an English Premier League. Actually, with money, they could start a league on the moon and it would work.

“We had a lot of issues to discuss around it and questions for the BCCI.

“We had to ask the BCCI when they planned on hosting the tournament and if it would conflict with international touring commitments. For example, as CSA president, I was interested in finding out if it would clash with the South African summer.” —PTI

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