India likely to back Zimbabwe

The BCCI is unlikely to support any stringent action against Zimbabwe at the ICC's annual meeting in Dubai next week, a top Indian board official has indicated.

"We have always supported Zimbabwe cricket and have nothing to do with the political situation there," a senior BCCI official told Cricinfo. "In fact, we are a bit surprised that the issue has been brought up once again since the ICC board had discussed this last year and decided clearly that politics and cricket can't be mixed. The BCCI believes that a country's politics and its cricket don't go together. There is no reason to change our stand now."

On Monday, Cricket South Africa announced it was suspending its bilateral agreement with Zimbabwe Cricket, citing the worsening "general situation" there. That was quickly followed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) scrapping a proposed tour by Zimbabwe in 2009 after the British government advised them it would support such action.

Speaking to Sky Sports on Wednesday, David Morgan, who will take over from Ray Mali as ICC president at the end of the annual meeting next week, welcomed action against Zimbabwe but warned: "It will be a very difficult discussion. India and Zimbabwe are close and India's position is crucial in all this, for sure."