India undecided on inaugural Twenty20 World Cup - Pawar

Sharad Pawar, the Indian board president, today said India was yet to decide on its participation in the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa next year.

"We will take it up in the board's Working Committee which will decide on this," Pawar said at a media conference in New Delhi today. He added that because of a previous resolution the board had to annually ratify the ICC's proposal to hold a Twenty20 World Championship. And, as such, it had sought time to embrace the new format of the game.

"The ICC did not compel us to play in the 2007 Championship, but we have agreed to play from 2009 event on," Pawar said. "The BCCI members had resolved in a working committee meeting recently that they were not happy with the Twenty20 version and will not play it.

"At the ICC meeting [in Dubai last week] we went through the previous records and found that a unanimous decision had been passed in October 2005 in Sydney and we were party to it. Any resolution which had two-third majority of the ICC members was binding."

The resolution referred to by Pawar allows for an annual Twenty20 World Championship under the aegis of the ICC. Pawar also clarified that the Pakistan board had informed the Indian board of its inability to play in a triseries at Abu Dhabi in September. "The dates were not suitable to them because it came immediately after their England tour," he said. "But we will have a triseries in Abu Dhabi, the dates will be different though."