Mumbai: The International Cricket Council has received a communication from the rebel Indian Cricket League bankrolled by the Essel Group of Subash Chandra for recognition from the world governing council and the matter is under consideration, a top ICC official said today.

"There are two parts to that. Until recently the ICL had never sought recognition from the ICC, so it never asked the question. About ten days ago lawyers acting on behalf of ICL contacted ICC and sought recognition from the ICC," said Malcolm Speed, the outgoing CEO of ICC, today during an interaction with reporters.

"We are awaiting advice from our lawyers on that issue and I expect it within the next week or so (after which) we'll respond to the ICL lawyers," Speed added.

"The question is never been asked whether ICC will recognise ICL one way or the other. It's a fairly complicated legal issue and we are taking legal advice," said the ICC CEO who will step down from his post in June.

Speed also revealed that the Indian cricket board had never sent anything in writing to the ICC that the ICL was an unsanctioned event or the BCCI did not recognise it.

"BCCI has never sent anything in writing to the ICC terming the ICL as unsanctioned or that they don't recognise it. The law is different in every country on issues such as the state of trade, competition and these sorts of issues.

"So the position that the members have taken is subject to ICC obtaining legal advice they do not recognise ICL and they will deal with their player as they fit under the law of their country," Speed elaborated.

"Similarly the ICC has never been asked if the ICC will recognize the IPL. IPL doesn't need ICC recognition because it's a competition run by BCCI just as county cricket or Pura Cup doesn't need ICC recognition," he reiterated.

Saying that the issue was a very complicated one, Speed said that it was up to individual countries to determine whether they wanted to take back players who had joined ICL or not into the mainstream of cricket.

"That's the matter for those countries to work out whether they want to have those players back. It might become clearer when we get the final legal advice and there's dialogue with ICL," he added.

Source : PTI