Kolkata: Will India and Pakistan resume bilateral series? That’s the million-dollar question haunting cricket fans on both sides of the border. Amid the strained relations between the two countries, it seems quite unlikely with India’s stern no to any one-on-one cricketing ties, but Pakistan seems serious about it and will take up the issue in the next Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting in Colombo on December 17. Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Shahryar Khan who is also the ACC Chairman, wants India to respect the Memorandum of Understanding for six series, according to a report by news agency PTI.
PCB had threatened to take legal action against the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for not agreeing to play Pakistan in a bilateral series. “We have been consulting our lawyers on this issue of the MOU and we will be taking up this case of bilateral series at the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting this month,” Khan was quoted by PTI.
India and Pakistan signed an MOU in 2014 to play bilateral series, and India’s refusal has cost financial losses to PCB, said Khan. “We are not begging them to play us. Please don’t get that impression. But they (BCCI) signed a proper Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with us to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2023 and they didn’t meet their commitment,” Shahryar told media persons in Islamabad.
“It is our right as a cricket nation to push them to honour the MOU. They immediately owe us at least two home series as the last full bilateral series was played in India in 2007. In the MOU, Pakistan was to host four series between 2015 and 2023,” he said.
All eyes on December, 17 meeting as of now! Is there any possibility of seeing Misbah-ul-Haq and Virat Kohli going out in blazers for the toss in the future? The last Test series between the two countries was held in 2007-08 when Pakistan toured India. India also played host to Pakistan in 2012-13 for three ODIS and two T-20 Internationals.