The BCCI refusing to allow some of the cricketers to participate in a festival match at Abu Dhabi could come back to haunt it if the Indian cricketers desperately want to participate in the game. Given that the issue of a tiered contract system for the players still hasn't been worked out, all it would take for the BCCI's stand on the issue to be proved wrong is for one or more of the players to take the BCCI to court, citing the fact that they are currently not contractually bound to the BCCI once the tours are over. The BCCI's repeated delaying tactics on a proper contracts system could come back to haunt it.

There is a precedent. In 1988/89, after the Indian tour of the West Indies, some of the players (including a lot of seniors like Kapil Dev, Vengsarkar etc.) wanted to play a few exhibition matches in the USA. The BCCI promptly banned the players. The players took the BCCI to court and the judgement was in their favour and the BCCI had to reinstate the players. The players tried to ride their luck by then demanding a graded seniority based payments structure. The BCCI again rejected the demands. Ironically, the BCCI's stronghanded approach in the issues then possibly resulted in fast-tracking one Mr. Sachin Tendulkar into the Indian squad to Pakistan ... and he's going to sit out of this exhibition game.