Former England captain Michael Atherton has criticised Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) decision to deviate from the Future Test Programme, and called the rest of the cricketing nations to firmly stand behind the International Cricket Council (ICC) on the issue.

The BCCI had recently announced that it will play Australia every year home away between 2007 and 2009 and that it would not participate in the Champions Trophy from 2007 on as it brought losses to the host nation.

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As per the five-year FTP agreed to by the Test playing nations, India were to play Australia only twice until 2011.

In his column in the Sunday Telegraph titled "Selfish India must be made to toe the line", Atherton termed the BCCI as "big beast of cricket" and compared its strong posturing against the ICC to some of the superpower nations bullying the United Nations.

"The ICC's raison d'etre is to protect the interests of their constituent members and to ensure that order rather than anarchy reigns," Atherton wrote.

"The whole point of the Champions' Trophy is to provide funds for developing areas and the FTP is aimed at giving less well off nations, such as Bangladesh and the West Indies, a chance to compete.

"India, on the other hand, are acting as superpowers tend to act: self-interest first and last and bugger the rest.

"Last week, Malcolm Speed, the chief-executive of the ICC, found himself in a position much occupied by Kofi Annan and the United Nations in recent years: being bullied by a superpower for whom the notions of international law and collective responsibility have long ceased to have any meaning.

"He needs to stand his ground and we need to support him."