Stop making provocating statements, now BCCI warns Speed

New Delhi, Oct 18 (UNI) There seems no end in the war of words between ICC and BCCI and now the Indian board advised top brass of the governing body not to make provocative statements which might ''vitiate'' the exisiting relation between the two.

Irked by the objection to BCCI's decision to honour former captain Mohd Azharuddin, a release from Board secretary Niranjan Shah's office took strong exception to ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed's remark that it would be a grave mistake to ''talk of Azhar's case and that of others in the same breath'' and said the comment was ''highly disappointing, if not outrageous.'' His assertion that Shane Warne and Herschelle Gibbs had already been fined and suspended by their respective cricket Boards and that their cases cannot be compared with that of Mohammed Azharuddin who had been banned for life by the Indian Board sounds bizarre.

''If he is reacting to the statement of some officials of the Indian Board that Azhar had undergone enough punishment for his purported sin, then it must be clarified that there is a feeling among Indian Board members that what the Indian board did when the scandal broke out might have been correct even if it was a knee-jerk reaction, but in retrospect they feel that the Board had been too harsh on its players considering the way the other Boards went about protecting the guilty,'' it said.

''The general opinion is that Azhar had undergone enough punishment and that he should be allowed to lead his life like cricketers who had faced similar charge in other countries but are going about it as if they had done no wrong.

''Yes, Azhar should not be compared with those who got away with murder, people who continued to play after serving a token punishment even after they had admitted that they had taken cash to under perform and those who unabashedly said they accepted money from bookies. One is being persecuted and condemned for life while others strut about as paragons of virtues! Where is comparable zero tolerance? Azhar denied having done anything wrong and is still fighting his case in court. One can understand not letting him play cricket, but not treating him as a pariah, surely not after serving the sentence for more than five years,'' the statement read.

''What if the court exonerates him tomorrow? Will the ICC and the Indian Board be in a position to compensate for everything he has lost? It is no secret that the ICC and some Boards have gone out of their way to help cricketers who have been as much guilty as Azhar is made out to be, but did not show the same consideration for the former Indian captain just because the Indian Board in its exuberance tried to be holier than thou under extraneous pressures.

For Mr Speed to say that it is proved that Azhar had fixed matches is an authoritative and loaded statement, coming from the ICC Chief Executive, and he should refrain from taking such moral-high stance,'' it elaborated.

''Mr Speed was diplomatic while talking about the Indian Board honouring one of India's finest batsmen and a long-standing captain and his reaction smacks of ICC's pettiness. Even as he pays a left-handed compliment saying that 'we don't do enough to honour our former heroes,' he says it's 'a matter of policy and protocol of the ICC and that he would see how it works out,' when it comes to his attending the function.

What if the Indian Board uses same similes to attend the ICC's Awards function on November 3? It is an Indian Board's function and its prerogative to honour or not honour its heroes, there cannot be a checklist of guests for such functions.

''Mr Speed and other ICC officials must refrain from making provocative statements which will only vitiate the congenial atmosphere in which the Champions Trophy is being organised,'' Mr Shah said.

UNI