No Speedy end to crisis

On his two-day trip here, Speed met officials of LG and Pepsi, who are believed to have told him — in what are being described as ‘‘feedback sessions’’ — that they would not climb down from their present stand.

LG marketing head Ganesh Mahalingam told The Indian Express that the meeting with Speed was focused on future relationships and the ‘real issue’ came only as a matter that the ICC wanted to consult their sponsors. ‘‘As we understand, the ICC will have to sort it out,’’ he said, adding, ‘‘there was no concession offered from our side.’’ ‘‘We told them that we are fulfilling our commitment and you fulfil yours,’’ Mahalingam said.

Speed and a set of ICC officials met other official WC sponsors and BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya to find ways to sort out the dispute over the ICC’s participation contract, mainly its controversial player image-rights and ambush marketing clauses.

The player terms, which will apply to all ICC events until 2007, were drawn up following a deal with the ruling body’s marketing partner Global Cricket Corporation (GCC) worth $550 million. Facing the heat at the moment is the Indian team’s sponsors Sahara and their represenative agency, Percept D’Mark, incidentally also the agent for Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly and couple of other stars in the team. Percept’s CEO, Sanjay Lal, said LG’s threat was ‘‘too early’’ to react to and advocated optimism. Lal said the key people—ICC, BCCI, players and their newly formed association—ICPA, will have to to talk soon.

The Indian team will be flying to New Zealand in early December on a month’s tour before which, Lal said, the problem had to be resolved. ‘‘If the talks get delayed after the West Indies series (which ends on Sunday), it will be too late for the sponsors (meaning those companies sponsoring individual Indian players and the team). There will hardly be any time after the team comes back from New Zealand.’’