Last week, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi categorically informed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that it would be risking a loss of points if the teams have to face off in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test Championship and they decide to pull out.
The statement came after news in the Indian media over the BCCI mulling resumption of cricket ties with Pakistan, and the officials’ ongoing discussion with the government.
While the PCB chairman said that the board has no update on the development, he maintained that India does not have ‘a lot of choices’.
“Either they will play us or they will forfeit and we will get the points. I don’t think any team has a third option,” he said during a press conference, adding that the PCB is also filing a claim for compensation with the ICC disputes resolution committee in January.
“We are having our final meeting with our law firm in London next week and we have decided to file the claim with the ICC disputes resolution committee in first week of January. We are claiming compensation from the BCCI for not honouring a MoU to play 24 matches with us. They obviously have said they are not bound to pay us anything as they can’t play with us without government clearance,” he added.
Even though, as underscored by Najam Sethi, Pakistan’s first priority should be to resume ties with India, taking India to the ICC committee is the right course of action to finally put an end to BCCI’s failure to honour the bilateral commitments.
To put it simply, no government – India or Pakistan – should influence bilateral sporting ties, and politics and diplomacy should be strictly kept outside the realm of sports.
BCCI’s Committee of Administrators Chairman Vinod Rai has said that Indian team is planning to reduce its playing days from 140 days to 80 a year in the 2019-2023 Futures Tour Programme (FTP). The FTP also is reported to have provisions for Indo-Pak bilateral series.
“The fact that FTP has a provision for India-Pakistan series doesn’t mean that it would translate into a reality. It would be subject to clearance from the Union government,” a BCCI official told The Times of India.
What this basically sums up is the fact that the BCCI is still seeking Indian government’s clearance. But yes, it seems fair for all concerned parties that points should be deducted in case India can’t play.
If the BCCI wants the Indian government to have the final call, then it should either convince them or suffer the ramifications in case they can’t – which, of course, would be quite an incentive to ensure that they do a more convincing job.
The PCB should continue seeking compensation from the BCCI for not honouring the MoU wherein Pakistan and India were to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2023. And here the PCB leadership deserves credit for pursuing the matter and ensuring that Pakistan takes up the issues at all avenues unlike their predecessors.
Will the point deductions be enough of a reason for the Indian government to keep politics and cricket separate?
Will the ICC under Shashank Manohar manage to somehow support Pakistan’s principled stand against the more powerful India?
Considering the fact that most of the clout that India enjoys has been owing to its ability to generate money, keeping India and Pakistan away from each other in the cricket field for too long would make little sense, for there are few contests in cricket – nay in all of sports – that are financially more lucrative that an Indo-Pak cricket series.
Expect the BCCI and the Indian government to revise its policy in the near future – for financial incentives, if nothing else.
The statement came after news in the Indian media over the BCCI mulling resumption of cricket ties with Pakistan, and the officials’ ongoing discussion with the government.
While the PCB chairman said that the board has no update on the development, he maintained that India does not have ‘a lot of choices’.
“Either they will play us or they will forfeit and we will get the points. I don’t think any team has a third option,” he said during a press conference, adding that the PCB is also filing a claim for compensation with the ICC disputes resolution committee in January.
“We are having our final meeting with our law firm in London next week and we have decided to file the claim with the ICC disputes resolution committee in first week of January. We are claiming compensation from the BCCI for not honouring a MoU to play 24 matches with us. They obviously have said they are not bound to pay us anything as they can’t play with us without government clearance,” he added.
Even though, as underscored by Najam Sethi, Pakistan’s first priority should be to resume ties with India, taking India to the ICC committee is the right course of action to finally put an end to BCCI’s failure to honour the bilateral commitments.
To put it simply, no government – India or Pakistan – should influence bilateral sporting ties, and politics and diplomacy should be strictly kept outside the realm of sports.
BCCI’s Committee of Administrators Chairman Vinod Rai has said that Indian team is planning to reduce its playing days from 140 days to 80 a year in the 2019-2023 Futures Tour Programme (FTP). The FTP also is reported to have provisions for Indo-Pak bilateral series.
“The fact that FTP has a provision for India-Pakistan series doesn’t mean that it would translate into a reality. It would be subject to clearance from the Union government,” a BCCI official told The Times of India.
What this basically sums up is the fact that the BCCI is still seeking Indian government’s clearance. But yes, it seems fair for all concerned parties that points should be deducted in case India can’t play.
If the BCCI wants the Indian government to have the final call, then it should either convince them or suffer the ramifications in case they can’t – which, of course, would be quite an incentive to ensure that they do a more convincing job.
The PCB should continue seeking compensation from the BCCI for not honouring the MoU wherein Pakistan and India were to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2023. And here the PCB leadership deserves credit for pursuing the matter and ensuring that Pakistan takes up the issues at all avenues unlike their predecessors.
Will the point deductions be enough of a reason for the Indian government to keep politics and cricket separate?
Will the ICC under Shashank Manohar manage to somehow support Pakistan’s principled stand against the more powerful India?
Considering the fact that most of the clout that India enjoys has been owing to its ability to generate money, keeping India and Pakistan away from each other in the cricket field for too long would make little sense, for there are few contests in cricket – nay in all of sports – that are financially more lucrative that an Indo-Pak cricket series.
Expect the BCCI and the Indian government to revise its policy in the near future – for financial incentives, if nothing else.