India failed to name a preliminary World Cup squad by Monday, the last date established by International Cricket Council (ICC), as the contracts dispute took another worrying turn. All the participating nations were expected to send in a provisional list of 30 players to ICC by Monday. India missed the deadline even as Sourav Ganguly's side flew into New Zealand for two Tests and seven one-day internationals. "We will be naming our squad in a few days," said Amrit Mathur, media manager of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Neither Mathur nor BCCI secretary Karunakaran Nair was forthcoming on why India refused to meet the deadline. Nair was quoted last week as saying that India were not obliged to name their provisional squad "so early". ICC has set January 1 as the last date for announcing the final 15-man squad and there are fears that the Indian selectors may not abide by that deadline either, with their one-day series in New Zealand ending only on January 14. "We will cross the bridge when we get there" was Mathur's cryptic remark, though the tournament rules stipulate that any changes to the squad after December 31 have to be ratified by an ICC special committee.

Australia, England, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan have already named provisional squads even though they will also be involved in international matches till January. If that wasn't worrying enough for ICC, the row over players' contracts has escalated with the cricketers and the official tournament sponsors refusing to budge. The stand-off started in the build-up to the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka in September, when Indian players refused to sign contracts which prevented them from endorsing non-official sponsors for 30 days before and after the tournament. They also declined to let their images be used by official sponsors for six months after the event, as specified in the contracts. ICC had to water down certain clauses to ensure that India took part and they also promised to review the agreement before the World Cup. But sponsors like Hero Honda, LG Electronics and Pepsi, who are part of a seven-year deal with ICC worth 550 million dollars, have declined to give any more concessions to the players. "Agreeing to alter the contracts for the Champions Trophy was a one-off thing, we won't allow the same to happen for the World Cup," said LG's Ganesh Mahalingam. "We have paid a lot to become official sponsors, we must get our money's worth." BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya discussed the contracts with senior players like Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar before they left for New Zealand but conceded that an agreement was still "a long way off".

ICC have formed a committee to resolve the issue and they have their work cut out to make sure that the world's best cricketers make it to South Africa.

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