Meanwhile, things picked up in the capital too as Randhir Singh, secretary general of the Indian Olympic Association, who's still waiting for the BCCI's response about the final team list, put his foot down on the issue of sending the country's best team for the Games. He was briefing the media on the Afro-Asian Games in 2000, and the other teams participating in the Commonwealth Games, but predictably, the cricket controversy took centrestage.

``It is a matter of the country's prestige. I have fought for the inclusion of cricket in the Games, and will definitely not accept a second string team,'' Singh said, though he was unsure how long the Commomwealth Games committee would wait for India to send inthe team list.

Randhir Singh's increasing pitch on sending the top team is also because India is grouped along with Australia at the Games and only one team from each of the four groups qualifies for the semi-finals. Moreover, Australia, since it does not have other commitments at the time, is sending its top team for the Games.

Meanwhile, speaking to The Indian Express from Vadodara, Lele blamed the Indian Olympic Association for the furore that has been created about the Indian team's names not being sent on time. The last date for entry to be sent by name was August 11.

``The IOA informed us through a fax on August 6 that they wanted BCCI to give them the final list within two days. There was no way we could do that before the selection committee meeting on August 9 when we announced the probables. IOA is unnecessarily hassling us and issuing statements everyday,'' Lele said.

On the issue of India's entry for the Games being rejected if it comes as late as September 4, Lele said, ``That isnot our headache,'' but was non-committal about payment to the players. He said, ``We always pay our players,'' but refused to say whether they will be paid for participating in the Games.

Though Lele said he had sent a fax to Randir Singh today asking for ``clarifications'', the IOA secretariat had received no such communication till late this evening.

The Board is yet to take a decision regarding the composition of the teams for the Commonwealth Games and the Sahara Cup, whose dates are clashing in September. The BCCI is also waiting for the International Cricket Council observer's report regarding the playing conditions during the Kuala Lumpur Games before taking a final decision on the team compositions. ``We will have to see whether the ICC accords One-day status to the matches played there,'' Lele said.