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Indian cricket officials have contacted an independent arbitrator to settle the contracts row that threatens the country's participation in the World Cup.
The long-running dispute with the International Cricket Council (ICC) must be resolved by Tuesday, the deadline for players to sign their tournament contracts.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) confirmed to BBC Sport Online that India had contacted its Lausanne offices.
"We received an e-mail on Friday from the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) regarding this matter," a spokesman said.
"The initial contact has been made and they have requested the rules of arbitration and a list of arbitrators from which they can choose one."
For CAS to intervene both feuding partings must be in favour of arbitration, but the spokesman said the ICC had not yet made contact.
The England cricket team will play in Zimbabwe as scheduled during the forthcoming World Cup, the England and Wales Cricket Board has decided.
The decision on whether to play the match in Harare on 13 February was taken unanimously by the ECB management board, despite intense political pressure on them to approve a boycott.
Chief executive Tim Lamb said: "The ECB has always found it perverse and inequitable that we have been asked to make an isolated and purely symbolic gesture by withdrawing from this match.
"Sport, sadly, is once again being used as a political tool to fill the policy vacuum that seemingly exists."
A news conference to announce the decision had to be delayed after placard-carrying protesters infiltrated Lord's for the second day running.
The group included former parliamentary candidate Peter Tatchell, a well-known campaigner and a long-standing critic of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe.
England's World Cup match in Zimbabwe will not take place despite the ECB giving the go-ahead, according to former Test cricketer Allan Lamb.
Lamb fears rioting in Zimbabwe could escalate
ECB chief executive Tim Lamb ended months of uncertainty by committing England to the 13 February fixture in the face of government calls for a boycott
But his unrelated namesake told civil unrest in the country could see the match moved, probably to South Africa.
"I don't think the game is going to go ahead because I think the rioting is going to get even worse," South Africa-born Lamb said.
It's the nation's largest travelling billboard. It's a spectacle, a colossal truck sprayed in the colours and logos of its sponsors, that will be winding its way through towns and cities followed by floats and bands.
The truck, previously know as South African Breweries' "gig-rig", is a completely fitted stage. Now it has been taken over by the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 organisers as part of their roadshow awareness campaign.
It's now named the Dazzlemobile, and has already sparked huge interest.
Jos Charle, communications director for the World Cup, said the Dazzlemobile was so large that special travel arrangements had to be made for it.
'It's also so heavy that it cannot stay in one spot for long'
"It is double the size of a cooldrink truck and opens up to become a stage. It is fitted with a large sound system and lighting. It is so unbelievably huge that we have to map out the road it has to travel on beforehand because it will not be able to drive on certain roads. It's also so heavy that it cannot stay in one spot for long," Charle said.
The man Australian Test captain Steve Waugh calls "the best in the business" of getting injured players back on the field was unconcerned Tuesday by a rash of injuries to four key bowlers in Australia's World Cup squad.
Just a month before cricket's four-yearly showpiece gets under way in South Africa and Zimbabwe, the holders of the crown have four members of their much-vaunted attack under a cloud.
But 47-year-old physiotherapist Errol Alcott is hopeful he can have all of them firing before his charges line up for their first battle of the campaign, a clash with Pakistan in Johannesburg on February 11.
On the casualty list are three pacemen - Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Andy Bichel - as well as champion leg-spinner Shane Warne.
The Sri Lankan cricket board will give cash prizes totaling US$380,000 to the national cricket team if it wins the upcoming cricket World Cup, a state-run newspaper reported today.
Calling the prizes "performance incentives," each of the 15 players will get $US20,000 ($34,340) and the team will get $US100,000. ($171,700).
The board has also doubled the players' match fee from $US700 ($1,200) to $US1,400 ($2,400) for the World Cup and is paying the team a sum of $US150,000 ($257,555) to compensate for losses of advertising revenues caused by restrictions on endorsements imposed by the sport's governing body, the report said.
The International Cricket Council has banned players from advertising products that clash with the sponsors of the World Cup tournament.
Andrew Flintoff's place in the England World Cup squad will only be confirmed after team management have a chance to see him in action.
The Lancashire all-rounder has been given the all-clear to fly to Australia after satisfying chief medical officer, Dr Peter Gregory, about his fitness.
He will continue rehabilitation work at the Academy in Adelaide with a view to rejoining the senior squad before the end of the one-day VB Series.
But skipper Nasser Hussain said: "Andrew Flintoff needs to prove his fitness out here.
"If, after four or five months of being injured, you are still not fit two weeks before a tournament, then there's very little chance.
"But if he proves his fitness at the Academy and can play cricket with us for two or three weeks and get a game in, that's fine."
As part of their World Cup preparations, the South African cricket team will put away their bats and balls in the Drakensberg next week and bring out the boxing gloves, bicycles and even the drums.
While their opponents are squeezing in as much cricket as they can before arriving in the country for the game's biggest spectacle starting at Newlands on February 8, the South African team are adopting a distinctly different approach.
Rather than the hustle and bustle of intense international cricket, the South Africans are instead focusing on strengthening team spirit and unity during a camp at a Drakensberg sports resort from next Tuesday to
Friday.
"There won't be any bats or balls in the Drakensberg," said coach Eric Simons yesterday. "We're going to do some fitness work and and lots of brainstorming on how we're going to go about this tournament. We leave for Cape Town on January 27 and will then have two weeks of intensive practice.
England ruined their own chances of Ashes success before the Test series had even started.
That is the view of triumphant skipper Steve Waugh, whose Australians sealed the series in three one-sided Tests.
England made a better fist of a close-fought fourth Test in Melbourne before finishing the Ashes on a high with victory in Sydney.
Waugh admitted England were hurt by injuries but said picking a number of players under fitness clouds smacked of desperation.
"Little incidents made us feel like we had the early initiative," Waugh said.
"There is no doubt England were hit by injuries, most notably the loss of its main strike bowler and gee-up man Darren Gough, although I was surprised to see him picked to start with.
"To me, that sent out negative vibes - it was an act of desperation."
Waugh, whose future is still up in the air, said he felt the fact England went into the first Test without a tour win was detrimental to their confidence.
Australia have shaken up their squad for the forthcoming four nation women's series in New Zealand.
Queensland opener Melissa Bulow has been included for the first time, along with teenage all-rounders Kris Britt and Alex Blackwell.
"One of our objectives was to re-balance the batting line-up after Lisa Keightley announced her retirement from international competition.
"After strong performances over the past few seasons we feel Melissa deserves the chance to step in and establish herself at the next level," said chief selector Margaret Jennings.