Board of Control for Cricket in India seems hell bent on making life miserable for the Indian Cricket League’s New Zealand recruits and after forcing the Kiwi Board to ban them from the national team, it has managed to get them barred from appearing in a Bollywood movie as well.

According to a report in the The Age, three New Zealand cricketers — Nathan Astle, Daryl Tuffey and Craig McMillan — who came back after participating in the inaugural edition of the ICL, were stopped from doing cameos in the cricket-based film ‘Victory’ reportedly at the behest of BCCI. The trio is furious and Astle lambasted the BCCI for interfering with their off-field life.

“To me it’s a bit farcical, really; they’re just being silly. It is out-and-out wrong,” Astle was quoted as saying in the daily.

“The thing is it’s starting to affect our earnings off the field. The big issue is that I don’t think anyone, no matter how significant their standing in the game, should have a pull over our capacity to earn off the field,” he added in disgust. Astle and his teammates were set to earn 13,000 dollars each for their small roles.

“They have had the hard word put on them by the BCCI to stop us from playing. I understand if they want to take that stance on the cricket field but this goes beyond that, and I think it’s quite ridiculous. I mean, this has nothing to do with playing - it’s a movie about cricket. I was just supposed to rock up and bowl a few deliveries,” he said.