Chances of Ind-Pak cricket series getting ‘slimmer’
Pakistan Cricket Board chief has yet to get confirmation from India for the scheduled series in December.
Published On 22 Sep 2015
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Shaharyar Khan fears chances of a series against India in December are slim as the Indian board is still waiting to get clearance from its government.
The PCB and the Board of Control for Cricket in India signed an MoU last year to play six series between 2015-2023 with Pakistan hosting India for Tests, ODIs and Twenty20s in the UAE in December.
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The issue has been raised thrice with BCCI officials during various meetings of ICC since he took over the charge of PCB chairman in last September, according to Khan.
“I don’t want to give India any ultimatum but the chances are getting slimmer because I think their problem is they mix politics with sports,” he said.
“We are not pleading them, we are not kneeling down, we are just telling them that you have signed MoU and tell us whether you are honouring it or not.”
‘Quite unfair’
The PCB chairman hopes India will decide either way about December’s tour and he is likely to meet with secretary general BCCI Anurag Thakur on the sidelines of an ICC meeting in the UAE next month.
“Now the ball is in India’s court. I will talk to whosoever comes from India and tell him that so far you haven’t taken the permission from your government, which is quite unfair.”
Both countries have not played a Test since India beat Pakistan 1-0 at home in 2007. And Khan said the PCB could financially survive even without playing against its archrival.
“We are not going to plead them to come and play, after all we haven’t played against them for the last seven or eight years.”
Khan said the PCB had made alternative arrangements in case India refused to honour the tour. However, the PCB chairman didn’t reveal which countries they are looking at to replace India.
The BCCI is currently without a chief following the death of its president Jagmohan Dalmiya earlier this week.
Dalmiya, who oversaw the country’s emergence as the game’s financial powerhouse, died just months after his comeback at the helm of the national board.
Source: AP