Giving a new twist to the players' contract imbroglio, the Board of Control for Cricket in India on Monday said it is contemplating filing a counter claim against Global Cricket Corporation, the marketing arm of International Cricket Council, for its "failure to properly market the World Cup".
"We definitely reserve our right to file a counter-claim against GCC," BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya said in Kolkata.
He said he had made this point during the Board meeting of the ICC Development International, ICC's business arm, at Monaco on Saturday.
It was Dalmiya's first comment after returning on Sunday from Monaco, where the IDI Board decided against releasing India's guarantee money of approximately 9 million US dollars in view of the likely claims for damages from the GCC for violation of ambush marketing clauses by Indian players during the World Cup in South Africa.
Dalmiya said India's counter-claim would be based on the contention that marketing of the World Cup by GCC was not proper.
The world body had earlier decided to hold India's share of guarantee money because Indian cricketers had refused to agree to the restrictive sponsorship clauses in the Players' Terms for the World Cup and participated only on amended terms which severely diluted the original clauses.
The IDI Board, which met for the first time after the World Cup in South Africa, however, decided to release the entire half a million dollars withheld from Sri Lanka and part of the money of England and New Zealand.
ICC had blocked India's guarantee money to pay for the imminent claims for damages from the GCC -- rights holders for all ICC events till 2007 -- which had to compensate the official World Cup sponsors for their losses due to the Indian cricketers' decision.
Similarly, part of the revenue shares of England and New Zealand were held back because these two countries did not play their respective World Cup matches against Zimbabwe and Kenya citing security concerns.
Sri Lanka's money was withheld because it did not return the signed player contracts on time.
