Contract googly: Sachin hits it straight, will play in ICC trophy

The question mark over Virender Sehwag also appeared to have been removed today when his manager, Latika Khaneja, said she’d advised him to go along with the team if they take a collective decision. ‘‘I’ve also told him to sign what they tell him to. After all, it’s a question of his cricketing career, endorsements will come and go.’’

The deal offered by the ICC is this: it offers $8.85 million (approximately Rs 42 crores) to each member board as appearance money for the Champions Trophy and World Cup (prize money is separate). In return, the ICC has stipulated that none of the players can endorse a sponsor whose area of business comes into conflict with that of ICC’s sponsors during the tournament, and a month before and after.

Which rules out Tendulkar’s ads for Fiat, Visa, Hero Honda. And Sehwag’s for Coke, Saurav’s for Airtel. And also rules out the Indian team wearing the Sahara logo; all these will be deemed to be in conflict with ICC sponsors. That’s bad news for the sponsors, who’ve paid crores to sign up the stars for precisely such occasions: they plan saturation telecast of these ads, when interest in cricket is at its peak. If the ads aren’t telecast, the money’s gone down the drain.

The BCCI is currently awaiting word from its players in England. Board secretary Niranjan Shah told The Indian Express, ‘‘Our players will sit and decide tonight and convey their decision to us tomorrow. We want to go by our contractual obligations but have to give our players time to make up their mind. By Friday, we will communicate everything to the ICC.’’

In the meantime, a compromise is being worked out behind the scenes. Sources say this could mean a waiver of the TV ads clause. Or the BCCI could use its ICC handout to compensate the players’ sponsors.

That would, however, be a temporary measure; the agreement with ICC is for seven years. Sanjay Lal, CEO of Percept D’Mark, which markets Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan, says sponsors will, in future, have to consider these things when signing a player.

‘‘But look at the scene from a different angle. The (ICC) sponsors must have paid through their nose to block a competitor and you can’t deny him exclusivity. You have to play ball’’, he said.

Everyone stands to lose unless a compromise is worked out. Indian players aren’t the only ones facing problems with sponsors; the Australians have also taken a tough stand, as have the English and even the Sri Lankans. If top players from these countries don’t play, the ICC — for all its tough posturing — knows the tournament will be reduced to virtually a tri-nation series status.