"There was hardly any meeting between. They told us to close down ICL first before they begin talks," the former Indian skipper and current chief of ICL Kapil Dev told mediapersons.

The ICL had applied for its recognition to the International Cricket Council (ICC) but a decision on the issue was deferred during its Board meeting. Instead, the ICC had asked BCCI president Shashank Manohar to meet the representatives of ICL and submit a report on the discussions later on.

Following ICC's directives, both parties met in New Delhi last week but failed to make any headway on the contentious issue.

"We have again applied to ICC as we have hopes from the world body. They have asked us to wait for 21 days. We shall wait for their decision," Kapil said.

When asked if he plans to take legal action against the BCCI, Dev said, "of course, but it will be the ultimate step."

Dev drew comparisons between the South African Cricket team during the apartheid period and BCCI, and said that the later is acting in the same manner like the former today. "During the apartheid period we were ready to play with South Africa, but they refused to play with us. The same thing is being done by BCCI with ICL. We are ready to play, but they are not," Kapil Dev, captain of the World Cup winning team in 1983, said.

"How can you restrict somebody from playing cricket. Crikcet is for all. There are hundreds of young and talented boys who want to play cricket for India. It is wrong to stop anybody from playing according to his will," he said.

He asked, should there be only one Government school in the country? What if some private schools come up and provide education to few more?

"Playing cricket is like education. Young players need more platform to show their talent, and restricting them is awfully wrong. We have not restricted any of our players. They are free to play anywhere," Kapil added.

When asked about his impression of Ahmedabad as a venue for ICL matches, Kapil said that he was very much satisfied with the response and also plans to reschedule the final of ICL