The Indian Cricket Board's relations with the ICC, headed by Shashank Manohar, hit a new low after Indian women's cricket team was docked six points for not playing against Pakistan between August 1 to October 31 as per ICC Women's Championship.
There are possibilities that men's team might not play Champions Trophy in protest against the women cricketers being made "soft targets" in the name of rules and regulations.
A furious BCCI has lodged a protest with the global body who are well aware that any bilateral series against Pakistan needs government permission under current political scenario, which ICC's Indian chairman is well aware.
"ICC is well aware that in prevailing situation where Indian soldiers are being martyred, the sentiment is dead against playing Pakistan. The chairman is well aware that we need government permission," a furious senior BCCI official told PTI on Wednesday.
"This is a move with ulterior motive trying to play into the hands of Pakistan. They would say if women can play so can men. But that won't happen. If ICC does not backtrack, the men's team in solidarity with our women's team won't play in Champions Trophy," he added.
An ICC release on Wednesday stated: "Following consideration of written submissions from both PCB and BCCI, the ICC Technical Committee has ruled that the India Women's team is deemed to have forfeited each of the three matches it was due to play against Pakistan in Round 6 of the ICC Women's Championship, and that the associated points should be awarded to Pakistan.
"The matches, which were due to be played between August 1 & October 31, 2016, were not formally scheduled and did not ultimately take place, and the Technical Committee has ruled that Pakistan will be awarded two points for each of the three games and, in accordance with the ICC Women's Championship playing conditions, India shall be considered to have scored 0 runs in each of the 50 overs in each of the three matches and that its net run rate shall be adjusted accordingly."
The Technical Committee said while it was sensitive to the current state of relations between the nations of India and Pakistan, but concluded that the BCCI had not been able to establish 'acceptable reasons' for not participating in the series.
The ICC's relationship with BCCI has soured on a number of issues since Shashank Manohar became independent chairman. From changes proposed in revenue sharing to not having India in the working group, Manohar's stance has been perceived by many as anti-India despite BCCI members having full faith in his leadership.
A top ranking office bearer of the BCCI commented: "It seems as if Manohar's anti-BCCI stand is becoming an anti-India stance. As a former BCCI president he is well aware why the men's team could not play a bilateral series with Pakistan last year. Despite that if Indian women's team is docked points for not playing Pakistan, it means he does not care about the public sentiment."
With Parliament session on, BCCI president Anurag Thakur was unavailable for comment.
Meanwhile, The ICC's decision to award six points to Pakistan after the Indian women's team was deemed to have forfeited each of the three matches of the ICC Women's Championship was a result of non-communication from the BCCI about the team's participation.
A well-informed source told PTI that there were multiple e-mail communication from ICC, but there was no response to any of the e-mails to provide reasons for not playing the series against Pakistan, which was scheduled to be held between 1 August and 31 October.
The ICC went by the book and it would have been a different scenario had BCCI given in writing that the political tension and cross-border terrorism was the reason for their "forfeiture".
The ICC rule states that a documented reason is a must, which the governing body never had in its disposal.
It was also learnt that the BCCI has not filed any official appeal to the world cricket's governing body.
An ICC technical committee assigned to decide the matter felt the "BCCI had not been able to establish "acceptable reasons" for not participating in this series" at a time when Indian teams had been playing Pakistan in other international sport events.
The Indo-Pak clash in the Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament in Malaysia is being cited as example by many, and the junior hockey team from Pakistan is also coming to India for the Youth World Cup.
While BCCI bigwigs point their fingers at ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar, the counter point is that Manohar is not involved in this decision with the technical committee being headed by Geoff Allardice.
This is not the first time a country has been sanctioned for not honouring its obligation in an ICC event. Australia and the West Indies lost points as they did not play their scheduled matches in Sri lanka during the ICC Cricket World Cup 1996, citing security concerns.
England and New Zealand similarly forfeited points by refusing to tour Zimbabwe and Kenya respectively during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003.
According to a well-informed source, ICC was also not bothered when parallels were being drawn between the Faf du Plessis 'mintgate' incident and ball tampering allegations levelled against Indian captain Virat Kohli since the video that emerged was outside the five-day reporting window.
When contacted a BCCI official said: "This is an excuse being used by the ICC. They very well know that we require government permission to play Pakistan. I don't think they are giving the right picture."