You decide, govt tells Dalmiya

Against the backdrop of heated arguments by a bevy of Members of Parliament, led by former Test cricketer turned BJP MP Kirti Azad, the government has given Board of Control for Cricket in India president Jagmohan Dalmiya the right to make the final decision on the fate of India's ongoing tour of South Africa.

It is learnt that many members of the side now in South Africa, including skipper Saurav Ganguly, are in favour of coming back, as in fact are a large majority of Parliamentarians. MPs belonging to the Shiv Sena, BJP and Trinamool Congress have unanimously demanded that the team be recalled without further discussion.

The government, however, has asked Dalmiya to explore all possible avenues to salvage the tour.

Various compromises are being mooted. Moves are afoot to get the United Cricket Board of South Africa to back India's demand that controversial match referee MIke Denness be forced to stand down from the third Test. Failing that, the two boards could move to play the third Test, but declare it unofficial or alternately, play two one day games instead.

Dalmiya, meanwhile, is also engaged in hectic last minute consultations with the ICC in order to arrive at a compromise formula.

The board had in fact provided for just such a compromise, when in its initial approach to the ICC, it said that either controversial match referee Mike Denness had to be recalled, or failing that, the punitive decisions taken by him in relation to six members of the Indian team had to be kept in abeyance, pending a review.

The ICC, however, played hardball when it turned down both requests. The game's governing body said that Denness would remain match referee for the remainder of the tour, and further, that there would be no review of the decisions taken by him.

It is learnt that if the ICC sticks to its stance, the Indian team could be asked to cut the tour short and return home.

As per schedule, the third and final Test in the series is slated to begin Friday November 23.

The Mike Denness controversy -- Full coverage

India's tour of South Africa: Complete coverage