London, Sept 13 : Team India missed out on the ICC awards ceremony here, after the ICC strangely failed to send out the invite till Monday afternoon.
When the team got a belated call from the ICC around afternoon on Monday, the day of the event, all the players had made their plans for the evening. A few of them were not even available to get the message.
According to sources, the ICC was keen on at least Indian skipper M S Dhoni - one of the nominees - making it to the function, but he too was conspicuous by his absence from the glamorous event.
"He must be coming," one of the ICC officials said.
However, it was learnt that Dhoni was not even available over the phone. ICC officials later claimed that they had sent the invitation to BCCI well in time.
Dhoni and South African star Jacques Kallis were nominated for the 'Spirit of Cricket' award for 2011.
"We were not told about the awards ceremony till Sunday. By the time we got a call from the ICC, it was too late. We have already made our plans for the day," an Indian cricketer told TOI.
In contrast, almost all England players went to the ceremony.
The general practice is that all nominated players are invited. Besides, the international teams playing in a cricket series at the time of the awards - in this case England and India -- are also invited. PTI
