The Indian Cricket League (ICL) may suffer a blow with former West Indies captain Brian Lara apparently deciding not to participate in its maiden Twenty20 championship slated to get under way at Panchkula near Chandigarh between November 30 and December 16.

According to sources, Lara conveyed the decision to tournament organisers Essel Group through his lawyers in London. The Windies legend was to fly into India in a couple of days before heading for Chandigarh, but the sources said he had instruct his lawyers at the last moment to inform Essel that he was not happy with his contract. It is entirely possible that the cricketer’s move is a prelude to a contract negotiation, but Essel dismissed any such talk.

Said Ashish Kaul, Head, Corporate Brand Development, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, “This is all part of a BCCI strategy. Lara is playing in the ICL and tomorrow or the day-after, we will issue a list of all the players with their teams.”

Added Gaurav Seth, marketing and communication head, Zee Group: “It’s just a humour. You’ll see him in India in two days.”

No reason was given for Lara’s pullout though sources indicated it could be linked to the fact that the event does not have the sanction of the International Cricket Council and that an official parallel – and lucrative – T20 league is on the anvil.

Said Lara on July 23, the day he signed up with the ICL. “It gives me great pleasure to join the Indian Cricket League. You can’t keep me too far from cricket and hence I return to the game in this exciting new avatar that the Essel Group has launched. I feel honoured to captain one of the ICL’s city teams, and hope to use my experience in taking that team to victory in the inaugural ICL Trophy.”

If he withdraws, Lara will be the second Star to pull out from the ICL, following on the heels of Star Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf, currently on a personally-successful tour of India with the national side.

Lara, the world’s leading Test scorer with 1,953 runs, was the first big name to join the ICL, then the only T20 event planned for Asia. He was later joined by former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq and current stars Yousuf and Abdul Razzak, the now-retired Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne of Australia and a number of New Zealand and England players.

Also on Tuesday, there was growing speculation that a number of English players are lining up to join the ICL According to reports in the British media, a further nine cricketers are keen to the join the five Vikram Solanki, Darren Maddy, Paul Nixon, Boyd Rankin and Niall O’Brien – who are already on board.

Former England wicketkeeper Chris Read is also expected to fly into India on Friday after taking advice from the Professional Cricketers’ Association., a report said. While the BCCI has been mounting pressure on other boards to dissuade their players from joining the ICL, at least the England and Wales Cricket Board is hesitant given the legal issues like restraint of trade, etc around the matter.

Meanwhile, ICL will make its presence felt in one of the units affiliated to the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) after all. CAB is also under instruction from the BCCI to distance itself from anything to do with the league launched by Zee.

The CCFC has given corporate memberships to Essel Group, this caught the BCCI off guard. “It’s tricky. Clubs affiliated to state associations can’t offer grounds to the ICL… it’s not clear what exactly the CCFC is doing.” said BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah.

The club, though, sees no problem and president Noomi Mehta claimed it’s not an issue with the CAB either. CAB president Prasun Mukherjee could not be contacted, but his associates at the CAB seemed confused. Unconfirmed reports said the CCFC is taking 25 members from Essel Group for a year for a sum of Rs 1 crore.