PCB takes up Indo-Pak bilateral series issue with ICC

Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has taken up the issue of cancelation of bilateral series with India last December, as per an MOU signed between the two boards in 2014 to play six bilateral series, with the ICC.

An official in the board told PTI that chairman Shaharyar Khan had brought up the issue at the recent ICC board meeting in Dubai and stressed the need for boards to respect bilateral agreements.

"Shaharyar did take up this issue at the ICC meeting and pointed out that India had not played Pakistan in a bilateral series since 2007 and it had caused loss of millions of dollars to the PCB in estimated revenues," the official said.

He said Shaharyar made the point that if the BCCI had to seek government clearance to play Pakistan in a bilateral series it should not have signed the MOU in the first place.

"He made the point that it was strange that when India can host Pakistan at home for an ICC event like the World T20 it was reluctant to play in a bilateral series and constantly kept on giving the excuse of not having government clearance," another source said.

The source said that Shaharyar had stressed that the PCB wanted good relations with the BCCI but the MOU was a legal binding document to play bilateral series and the PCB had the option of using it to seek compensation.

The role of the England and Wales cricket board president Giles Clarke in trying to set up the bilateral series last December was also mentioned.

As part of the MOU Pakistan was to host India for a series in December in the UAE but after talks between the two boards, also involving Clarke, it was decided to have a short one-day series in Sri Lanka.

"But even that proposal was not possible later on when the Indian board said it had not got government clearance," the source said.

He said Shaharyar had made the point at the meeting that the Pakistan government had always supported having bilateral cricket ties with India.