With the Board of Control for Cricket in India failing to win over its players, the International Cricket Council Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed made one last-ditch effort to save the Champions Trophy from an Indian boycott. After BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya wrote to Speed, asking him to have a personal meeting with the Indian players in England, Speed was closetted with the Indians for a long while late tonight at the team hotel. Speed, accompanied by other ICC officials and some managers from the Global Cricket Corporation, had discussions with the Indians on issues ranging from the present players terms agreement to the ones which will be drafted for future ICC tournaments, including the World cups. "The meeting was a long one, and I feel the Indian players will have checked out all that they wanted to," team manager Ranga Reddy told The Indian Express from London. Reddy, who himself wasn’t part of the meeting, didn’t know what must have transpired but felt: "I hope we arrive at a sensible solution now." After the meeting with Speed, the senior Indian players got themselves engaged in a discussion of their own. "It must be very late in India," Reddy said, "I don’t think you will know of the talks/decision tonight." Even BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah had been waiting for a word from London till ‘‘I can comment. My knowledge of the meeting is as good as yours.’’ The mood of the Indian team wasn’t all that promising in the morning as the players did not want to relent from their stand without ‘‘official confirmation from the ICC that the six-month imaging clause will not be used for us. We won’t get into any sweet talking from the officials.’’
