Mumbai: “We will seek legal recourse against the BCCI via the ICC platform and also proper compensation for the many series they have refused to play against us and caused us heavy losses,” says PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan as ICC backs Pakistan over the women’s series which was not held in September-October in Dubai, on Wednesday.
The International Cricket Council asked The Board of Control for Cricket in India to produce documents stating the government has advised them to not play against Pakistan.
“The ICC had asked the BCCI to show the letters or any other documents with their external ministry to confirm it didn’t send its team to play Pakistan in the ICC women’s champions league in UAE on advice of its government,” Shaharyar said.
The morality boost provided by ICC to PCB was elicited by Shaharyar in his statement.
“We now want the Indian board to provide the ICC with evidence that they have been told by their government to not play us in bilateral series despite a written MOU signed between the two boards in 2014 to play six such series between 2015 and 2022,” he told the “Jang” newspaper.
The BCCI however wasn’t happy with the decision of the international board as it came after Pakistan said it was ready to host India for the league championship series in Dubai.
“We were even ready to host our home series in Sri Lanka last January under the MOU but India said it didn’t get clearance from its external ministry,” added the chief.
The retraction of India and the inability to produce the said documents, granted Pakistan points.
“The ICC technical committee awarded points to our women’s team declaring the series as forfeited by India because the BCCI couldn’t show any document which confirmed they were stopped by their government from playing the series,” he said.
India not playing Pakistan has taken a toll on the grounds of revenue for the latter. He further said that due to India’s refusal to play Pakistan in a bilateral series Pakistan cricket had suffered a lot.
“We will seek legal recourse against the BCCI via the ICC platform and also proper compensation for the many series they have refused to play against us and caused us heavy losses,” he said, as the chief plans on submitting a proper paper in the next ICC meeting to be held in January at Dubai, revolving around this issue which needs immediate action.
Pakistan advices India to play them in the Champions Trophy group stage next year in June in England, not abiding by the same would result in ICC taking strict measures against this act.
“We have lost revenue and don’t have the funds to invest in our club or domestic cricket,” the chief expressed his sorrow.
“We are already facing hardships due to other teams not touring Pakistan due to security concerns since 2009.”
India have not played Pakistan in a full bilateral series since 2007.