The tussle between the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the Indian Cricket League reached the Delhi high court on Friday, with the breakaway group seeking to restrain the Board from "intimidating" its players and interfering in its affairs.

The lawsuit seeks a direction to the BCCI to allow the ICL to use stadia across the country for its tournaments.

It said the pensions given by the BCCI to former players should not be stopped in the event of them joining the ICL.

The ICL has also sought that the BCCI should be restrained from using the Indian flag and name of the country as it was accepted by the Board before the Supreme Court that it is a private body.

The newly-formed cricket body by Essel Group says no players should be intimidated by the BCCI for joining the ICL.

'BCCI will answer ICL in court'

Meanwhile, reacting cautiously to the news that the ICL has taken recourse to the precincts of the Delhi high court to stop it from "intimidating" players for joining the ICL, the BCCI said it will react in a fitting manner as and when required.

"What you say is news to me [that ICL has filed a petition against BCCI in the Delhi high court]. If they (ICL) have gone to court and if we are sent a notice, then in that case we will attend the court and say what we want to," BCCI vice-president Shashank Manohar said from Nagpur.

The development seems to have caught the BCCI by surprise, going by the reaction of one of its top officials and legal experts.