Asian Games officials unhappy over India's cricket absence
Cricket may be one of the star attractions as a sport in the forthcoming Asian Games but the sheen has clearly been taken off due to India’s pull-out. After supporting cricket’s cause for its inclusion
in the Olympics, the Board of Control for Cricket in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 (BCCI) refused to send a team for the Asian Games because of their prior commitments at the international level.
Speaking to the Indian daily,
The Hindu, an unnamed official at the games said: “We're extremely disappointed. This was the perfect opportunity to showcase cricket to the Chinese public. For many in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/China-c40996, cricket and India are synonymous. It would have been a major boost to have
India's star cricketers here, so it has been a huge let-down.”
India will be the only Asian Test and ODI playing nation that will not participate in the cricketing event. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hong-Kong-c2919
will also be present.
The BCCI decided not to send across a team due to their series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 which will see them play in five ODIs and three Test matches. Cancelling such a series at the 11th hour would have resulted
in a heavy loss of revenue for the Indian board.
There were also suggestions to send a second-string team for the games. However, the suggestion was refused by the BCCI after the Indian Olympic Association secretary, Randhir Singh said that they will not
allow the Indians to field a second-string side.
This is the first time that cricket will be played at the Asian Games. In the past, cricket has been played in the Olympics on one occasion but that was way back in 1900 in the Paris Olympics. Cricket was
also included in the Commonwealth Games in 1998 in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Malaysia-c2949 where India had sent a second string team as well.
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