India grant amnesty to ICL rebels

Dinesh Mongia celebrates a wicket for India

Dinesh Mongia is among the players returning to the BCCI fold

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has granted amnesty to the 79 players who have defected from the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League.

The players have now been declared eligible for domestic cricket in India, but they can only play internationally after a one-year cooling-off period.

Other governing bodies have also offered amnesty to their players involved with the ICL.

The BCCI has also overturned bans on 11 former players and 11 officials.

A statement added that the BCCI will also be issuing guidelines with regard to former ICL players competing in the rival Indian Premier League.

Among the players readmitted were former Indian internationals Hemang Badani, Dinesh Mongia and Sridharan Sriram.

Another was Ambati Rayudu, and the middle-order batsman told the BBC: "It is a very good opportunity for us. It will be good to come back and play domestic cricket right now.

"My reasons for applying for amnesty were simple - I wanted to play more cricket. The ICL is a very competitive league but not much cricket was being played. I am looking forward to the season ahead, initially domestic first-class cricket and the IPL."

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The very future of the ICL now appears in jeopardy. Pakistan stars Mohammad Yousuf and Abdul Razzaq had already triggered an exodus, which continued when South Africa's Justin Kemp left on Tuesday.

However, India's former captain Kapil Dev, who is the chariman of the ICL's executive board, is not thought to have terminated his contract.

Himanshu Mody, the ICL's business head, dismissed suggestions that the league was winding up. "The world has been saying this about the ICL time and again, and every time we come out stronger," he told Cricinfo.

The ICL is now left with just five Indian players from its original pool of 84 but there has been no official confirmation on the status of the league's 53 remaining foreign signings.

The BCCI and ICL have been locked in a bitter dispute which began shortly after India's World Twenty20 success in 2007.

The ICL, financed by Essel Group - the largest media group in the country - was established without the approval of the BCCI. The board then reacted by setting up its own rival league.

Subsequently, the BCCI banned any ICL participants from competing in domestic and international cricket, with national governing bodies across the world adopting a similar policy towards the players.