Indian board grants amnesty to 79 players

The Indian cricket board said on Tuesday it has given an amnesty to 79 players who want to sever their ties with the unofficial Twenty20 Indian Cricket League and return to mainstream competition.

"Seventy-nine current players and 11 former test cricketers have severed their relations with the Indian Cricket League and applied for rejoining the mainstream of Indian cricket under the amnesty scheme offered by BCCI," the Board of Control for Cricket in India's secretary, Narainswamy Srinivasan said.

The players had participated in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) for the past two years in a direct challenge to the BCCI's authority.

The BCCI banned all players for life, but recently came out with an amnesty scheme for those players and officials wanting to cut their links to the breakaway league. A deadline of May 31 was set for those wanting to return to the official fold.

Among the players seeking return to the official fold were Hemang Badani, Dinesh Mongia, Sridharan Sriram, Rohan Gavaskar and Deep Dasgupta.

"The BCCI, after scrutinizing their requests, has written to the concerned state associations that these players are eligible to play in the domestic tournaments for this year," Srinivasan said in a statement.

The players can resume playing in domestic official cricket immediately, but will have to undergo a "cooling off" period of one year to become eligible for international selection.