The ICC contracts dispute may well have been sorted out for the moment, but the issues raised by it have not, and will certainly raise their heads again. It's like the case of the baby and the bathwater. The bathwater has been cleared, but the baby is still in danger of being strangled. ICC lurks. The players had two kinds of problems with the ICC contracts – practical ones and ethical ones. The practical problems – of having to contravene their existing contracts, of the image clause giving rise to possible conflicts between personal sponsors and event sponsors – have been sorted out for the moment. But, disturbingly, the ethical ones remain.

The ICC has every right to exploit the brand value of an event, and deserves to benefit from the brand value a star brings to an event. But it has no right to hijack the player's entire brand value – because it owns the event and not the player. If the ambush-marketing clause barred the player from doing commercials for a corporation claiming an association with the event it had not bought from ICC through sponsorship, that would be perfectly ethical. To bar him from doing all commercials with rival sponsors during an event – and for a fixed duration of time before and after it – amounts to a restraint of trade. It is unethical.

It becomes no less unethical if the exclusivity period, as it is called, after the event comes down from 30 days to 18. Any exclusivity period, as it presumes an ownership of the player and his brand value on ICC's part, is wrong. And having agreed to it once, it is not unlikely that despite promises to the contrary from ICC, they may be bullied into it again.

The players were under a lot of pressure, during an important phase in the Test series, and it is not surprising that they buckled under. They wanted to play cricket for their country, but one can't help feeling they lost sight of the bigger picture here. Having once compromised and accepted an unethical practice, they will find it difficult to take the high moral ground on this issue again. Cricket will be the loser.

Amit Varma is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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