Pakistan Cricket Board has denied team permission to tour India.
By Sreekanth A Nair
The proposed India-Pakistan cricket series is in trouble as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has denied permission to its team to play in India, citing security concerns.
After the 38th PCB Board of Governors meeting held at Lahore on November 17th, PCB Chairman Shaharyar M. Khan said, “The BCCI must honour its commitment and play the series in the UAE.”
The Indian government is unlikely to give permission to the Indian cricket team to play in UAE because of security issues in West Asia. Instead, the Indian government is asking Pakistan to play in India. UAE is acting as the home ground of Pakistan after a terror attack against the Sri Lankan team in 2009.
“There is no justification behind asking Pakistan to play the series in India and there is no security issue involved if the two teams play in the UAE,” added Shaharyar M. Khan.
The Pakistan government also has directed PCB not to take any decision regarding playing cricket in Indian without the government’s approval.
The Hindustan Times quoted Najam Sethi, the chief of the PCB’s executive committee saying, “The Pakistani government position is that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) cannot play in India without the government’s permission which has not been given. The government raised security and safety issues for the PCB regarding playing in India.”
In October, a meeting between the officials of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and PCB regarding a proposed cricket series in December was cancelled due to a protest staged by Shiv Sena activists at BCCI headquarters Mumbai.
Earlier, the PCB had signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the BCCI in 2014 to play six series from 2015 to 2023. PCB claims that BCCI had agreed to play matches in UAE.
PCB says that it’s Pakistan’s turn to play host and the right to decide the host venue lies with the PCB. It has threatened to take the issue to the International Cricket Council if BCCI breaches the conditions.
“There were lots of talks with Mr. Khan on various issues. But nothing was discussed officially. Also, the BCCI has not written to the government seeking a clearance for a series with Pakistan,” BCCI Chief Shashank Manohar was quoted as saying by The Hindustan Times.
All India-Pakistan bilateral cricket matches and series were suspended after the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.