BCCI says no to USA Pro Cricket

The Indian board has denied permission to its players to take part in the newly launched American Pro Cricket league next month, following a directive from the ICC.

"The ICC had communicated to all its members, including the BCCI, that it had not approved the event and that the event did not have the support of the United States of America Cricket Association either," SK Nair, the BCCI secretary, was quoted as saying in a press release. "The ICC has recommended to the members [that] countries should therefore not release any players to play in this event.

"In view of this BCCI too had advised all the players that permission would not be granted to participate in the American Pro-Cricket event since it did not have the ICC's approval."

Vinod Kambli, Rohan Gavaskar, Dinesh Mongia, Sanjay Bangar, Nikhil Chopra, Sarandeep Singh, Amit Mishra, Ajay Ratra and Amit Bhandari were among two dozen players who had sought permission to play in the event.