India's cricket chiefs on Friday barred two national stars from signing up with English counties because those sides included players aligned with a rebel Twenty20 league. Veteran batsman Venkatsai Laxman and young leg-spinner Piyush Chawla were not allowed to play in English domestic cricket in a move seen as another attmept to crush the unauthorised Indian Cricket League (ICL). Laxman was due to play for Nottinghamshire after India's upcoming Test series in Sri Lanka, while Chawla was called up by Hampshire to replace retired Australian great Shane Warne. “Our boys will not play alongside ICL players,” Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) spokesman Rajiv Shukla said. “It is the board's policy not to have any dealings with the ICL or its players.” The BCCI, which holds its own Twenty20 league, does not recognize the ICL, bankrolled by India's largest listed media company, Zee Telefilms, and headed by former World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev. At least 15 of the 18 English counties field ICL players from across the world fearing restraint of trade action. The ICL players with Nottinghamshire, where Laxman was due to play, are New Zealand all-rounders Andre Adams and Chris Cairns and England's discarded wicketkeeper Chris Read. Hampshire also has three ICL cricketers in South Africa-born wicketkeeper Nic Pothas, former South African paceman Nantie Hayward and former Australian all-rounder Ian Harvey. “We are not saying that no player can play county cricket in the future. “The England and Wales Cricket Board is coming out with a policy regarding ICL within a year. So, we will see how it goes.” Pakistan tour Pakistan will visit Bangladesh next March to play five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 match. The series is part of a bilateral agreement reached earlier this year when Australia pulled out of a tour of Pakistan on security grounds. Bangladesh stepped in and played five ODIs and a Twenty20 match against Pakistan in April.
