BCCI get support from Asian countries over Siva's appointment

The furore over the appointment seemed to have created a rift in the cricket world with the Asian countries throwing their weight behind BCCI which is apparently unhappy with all the noises being made over the former legspinner39s appointment to the current player39s committee There were reports earlier today that a miffed India was threatening to pull out of the upcoming Champions Trophy to be held in England in June However when contacted a top BCCI official denied such a move quotThere is no question of pulling out of the Champions Trophyquot the top BCCI official told PTI Sri Lanka and Pakistan Crickets Boards have backed the BCCI on the issue quotIt39s very unfortunate see allegations come when an Asian or an Indian player comes into play When it comes to Laxman Sivaramakrishnan serving in the cricket committee we look at his cricketing abilityquot said Sri Lanka Cricket39s secretary Nishantha Ranatunga PCB chief Zaka Ashraf said quotBecause of certain unanimous policies of Pakistan India Bangladesh and Sri Lanka they are opposed to such policies whyquot Sivaramakrishnan who is employed by the BCCI as a commentator replaced Tim May on the cricket committee on May 6 an appointment that attracted criticism from various quarters The furore over the Indian39s appointment was caused following allegations that BCCI forced a revote to get Sivaramakrishnan on the committee after May won the initial vote 91 A miffed Federation of International Cricketers Association FICA had demanded an ICC ethics committee inquiry into the appointment saying captains could have been forced to vote against incumbent May which has irked the BCCI FICA39s legal advisor Ian Smith said Boards were pressurised despite ICC warnings of not interfering in the secret ballot Preferring not to say it in as many words May a former Australian spinner and FICA boss had last week made a veiled reference to his ouster saying he is more interested in the apex body quotpolicingquot and maintaining its stated quotgovernancequot quotIndeed I am more focused on the ICC policing its own stated standards in terms of governance this is the real issue not whether I got voted onto this committeequot May had said Sivaramakrishnan39s appointment was preceded by the head of South African players union39s recent allegation that India had pulled strings to force a repolling Tony Irish who is also in the FICA said that an initial round of voting had chosen May a longterm players39 advocate Amid reports of allegations the ICC clarified its stand on the Indian39s appointment saying a revote was conducted due to confusion over the first voting process quotIn January this year because of confusion in the voting process for such representatives for example in respect of what should happen in the case of a tied vote and where teams had different captains for different formats of the game which captain should be entitled to vote the ICC Board considered the matter carefully and following clarification of the process to be followed decided that another vote should be takenquot the ICC had said in a statement