Cricket crisis as India name banned player

Jagmohan Dalmiya, President of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)

By Craig Francis
CNN Hong Kong

(CNN) -- India's Test cricket series against the visiting England team has been jeopardized and the greater cohesion of Test cricket's global community put on shaky ground after India selected a player banned by the sport's governing body.

The Indian cricket board on Wednesday evening defied a directive from the International Cricket Council (ICC) to omit suspended batsman Virender Sehwag for Monday's Test against England.

He has been named in a 14-man squad for the Mohali Test.

The inclusion of Sehwag in the playing 11 would force the ICC to declare the match illegal, a move which could force England to pull out of the series.

"Sehwag has been picked on cricketing merit," chief selector Chandu Borde said as he emerged from the conference to pick the Indian squad. "We had no instructions from the Indian board to leave anyone out of the squad."

The ICC has given the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) until 0630 GMT Friday to confirm if Sehwag will take the field in the Test.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced it will follow instructions from the ICC if the world body strips the game of its test status.

Sehwag, a 23-year-old middle order batsman, was suspended for one match by the ICC referee during the recent second Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth for showing dissent towards an umpire.

The penalty imposed on Sehwag, and warnings issued to five other players including national hero and captain Sachin Tendulkhar, caused a furor in India.

The BCCI subsequently reached an agreement with South Africa to dump referee Michael Denness from officiating in the third Test -- a game that went ahead at Centurion Park, Johannesburg but was ruled unofficial by the ICC because no ICC referee was overseeing the match.

Dispute over ban

Sehwag, who scored a century on his test debut in the first test, was dropped from the unofficial Test. India argue he has served his suspension, while the ICC are adamant the game was not offically recognized and he must miss the England Test series opener.

Five Indian players received match suspension sentences and were fined for appealing too loudly and too often against umpire decisions.

Denness also imposed a suspended match sentence and a fine on Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar for ball tampering.

The ICC then rejected a call from the BCCI to replace Denness.

The South African cricket board backed the Indian cause, largely because they did not want to incur the major financial losses associated with India withdrawing from the Test.

Former Pakistani batsman Javed Miandad voiced the concerns of many when he threw his support behind the ICC, saying that the behavior of both national boards had thrown the future of cricket into doubt.

Without the guidance of an umbrella body like the ICC, the cricket world would face an anarchic immediate future.

ICC stick to Friday deadline

An ICC spokesman in London said Wednesday the council still considered November 30 to be the key date.

"We are still focusing on Friday as the ultimate deadline," he said. "All our energy is focused on that. Hopefully by Friday lunchtime the situation will have changed."

Friday's deadline was imposed by ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed in a letter to Dalmiya.

"You will appreciate that BCCI and ICC are on a collision course and that the consequences for world cricket are of great significance," Speed said.

India's 14 for first Test: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Rahul Dravid, Shiv Sundar Das, Connor Williams, Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Deep Dasgupta, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Sarandeep Singh, Sanjay Bangar, Iqbal Siddiqui, Tinu Yohannan.