It also said, that Speed had "hijacked" the press conference of ICC President Percy Sonn and exceeded his brief in Mohali on Thursday where he launched a broadside against the Indian cricket establishment.

In a strongly worded statement, BCCI's Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty also challenged Speed by asking whether he will have the guts to say that the England and Wales Cricket Board is not running its affairs well because the England team has never won the World Cup, cricket's piece de resistance.

"What Speed did by talking about the status of Indian cricket and the performance is nothing but gross interference in the affairs of the Indian Board.

"In any case, wonder how much does he actually know about the stakeholders in Indian cricket to take such swipes from time to time? "Speed has chosen the wrong time and wrong place to debunk Indian cricket and its stakeholders," Shetty said.

"The media conference in Mohali on Wednesday was ostensibly called for the president of the International Cricket Council Percy Sonn to interact with the Indian media, but it was hijacked by the irrepressible ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed.

"Speed, for the umpteenth time, harangued the Indian Board. This time he went a step further, deriding the entire Indian cricket itself," Shetty charged.

Significantly the war of words between the two parties has been renewed just prior to the two-day ICC Executive Board meeting here scheduled from Saturday and in which the Members Participation Agreement, which the BCCI has refused to sign in its present form, will come up for discussion.