Hussain furious despite India's climb-down

The preening powerplay may be over and England's tour saved, but that has not prevented the England captain, Nasser Hussain, from criticising the provocative stance taken by the Indian Board President, Jagmohan Dalmiya, during the Virender Sehwag affair.

Sehwag, who is due to serve a one-match ban for excessive appealing, has now been de-selected. It was a move the International Cricket Council had insisted upon all along, though one that inevitably set them at loggerheads with Dalmiya.

Speaking here, Hussain was pointedly unambiguous as to who was at fault. "I'm not amused at what's gone on. It's been a shocking week for cricket," said Hussain after he had heard that his side's opening Test would commence as scheduled on Monday.

The crisis, which has brought world cricket close to anarchy, was precipitated by India's refusal to accept the punishments handed down to six of their players by the ICC match referee, Mike Denness. One of those included the one-match ban on Sehwag.

Citing racism, the Indian Board refused to accept the ICC's ruling, a stance they confirmed after picking Sehwag in the squad for the first Test against England.

"The way the world works is that you have your bosses and your guv'nors who run things and the ICC runs cricket," Hussain said. "The sooner everyone realises that the ICC runs the game as it should be run, the better. The two gentlemen who are running the ICC are doing a fine job. Everyone must understand who is running the show and everyone should adhere to what the governing body says."

The two gentlemen Hussain refers to are the ICC president, Malcolm Gray, and the chief executive, Malcolm Speed, both of whom have been patient with Dalmiya. In the interests of harmony they even shifted yesterday's noon deadline, a flexibility not wholly appreciated by Hussain.

"These things can't happen again," he said. "They wouldn't happen in any other sport. People shouldn't be allowed to go around behaving in the way they have. Sometimes people get things wrong but you have to live with them, that's life. So if the ICC say a match is an unofficial Test, everyone down the line must accept it without question."

The trouble is, Dalmiya and his Board did not accept the ICC's authority and a compromise was reached only after agreeing some sweeteners. These include setting up a match referee's commission to investigate the punishments given to the six Indian players, one of whom was Sachin Tendulkar.

"Please don't underestimate the issue that we faced," Speed said. "The collision that we talked about earlier in the week would have been a major collision that would have put the structure, the substance, of world cricket seriously at risk."

Outside the circles of power the overriding feeling among players is one of relief. "We have been here for almost three weeks and now we want to talk about cricket," Hussain said. "So far all that has been discussed is who is running the game and the future of this tour.

"Even today, when we had lunch at Delhi airport on the way from Jaipur, all the players were discussing was whether Sehwag would play or whether we were staying or going home. That's so disappointing, but I always thought the series would go ahead because I know how much people here love the game. It would have been a shock to them if the series had been cancelled. They are desperate to watch it."

If goals can now be set, it is that Mohali represents England's best chance of a win. But if England's preparations are undercooked by a game or so, India are also in disarray. Beaten by South Africa 1-0, or 2-0, if you take the unofficial Test into account, India have returned home to much criticism, a mood the selectors have responded to by picking an uncapped pace attack.

Not everyone is convinced by Sanjay Bangar, Iqbal Siddiqui and Tinu Yohannan, a trio England's batsmen have faced in the warm-up matches. Quoted, though not named, in The Times of India, current team members wondered if it was a "side to play an unofficial Test?" The paper also reported that the captain, Sourav Ganguly, whose own form has been waning, was visibly upset over the selections.

Even Daljit Singh, the groundsman at Mohali is not convinced by the new-boy attack. "They told me to produce a hard, fast bouncy track, and I have done the needful," he said the day after India's squad were announced. "My opinion is they should have stuck with Ashish Nehra [one of those dropped after South Africa]. He would have made best use of the moisture you get in the mornings."

If the groundsman is right, two spinners, at least for England, will be redundant, though the one to play will not be Ashley Giles. Following his 17 overs in Jaipur, he is suffering from a badly bruised heel and is some way short of being match ready. That means a first England cap for either Richard Dawson or Martyn Ball, something that would not have happened had the administrators continued their squabbling.