PCB waits for Indian FM’s visit to decide on series

By our correspondents
December 08, 2015
LAHORE: The fate of a planned bilateral series between arch-rivals Pakistan and India will be decided during a visit to Islamabad by India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj this week, Pakistan’s cricket chief said on Monday.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said it was awaiting the Indian government’s approval of a shortened limited-over series — three one-day and two Twenty20 Internationals to be held in Sri Lanka — which it agreed with the Board of Control for Cricket in India last month.
Swaraj is expected to arrive in Islamabad on Tuesday (today) to attend the Heart of Asia regional conference, the latest sign of warming ties between the nuclear neighbours.
“We have been informally told that Swaraj will talk on cricket and decide the fate of the series,” PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan told media.
The series, agreed between the two boards in a memorandum of understanding signed last year, ran into trouble amid strained relations over cross-border shelling in disputed Kashmir.
But Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi met on the sidelines of a climate change conference in Paris last week as the two countries seek a thaw in relations.
That informal meeting was followed by “cordial” talks between the Indian and Pakistani national security advisers in Bangkok on Sunday, giving Khan fresh hope the series could yet take place.
“The recent meeting between the two prime ministers and security advisers’ meeting in Bangkok have hinted the situation between Pakistan and India will improve,” he said.
Making arrangements for the series — which could run from December 17-January 3 — would be “challenging” at such short notice, Khan said, “but we will do it once we get clearance from the Indian government.”
Srinivasan’s letter to PCB
It was a letter of April 2014 sent by the then BCCI president N.

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Srinivasan to PCB which bound India to a commitment to play Pakistan this month, leading to the present dilemma in the Indian establishment.
The BCCI had given the commitment to play two Test matches, five ODIs and two Twenty20s with Pakistan at “UAE or mutually-agreed venue” in December 2015, according to the letter in possession of PTI.
The commitment by BCCI in its April 9 letter was given in the context of resolutions placed at the ICC Executive Board meeting on February 8, 2014 relating to “a new financial model and governance structure for the ICC”.
The reference to the new “governance structure for the ICC” was seen to include Srinivasan’s bid for the world sporting body’s Chairmanship for which he needed support from the Asian bloc, including PCB.
“Further to our meetings and discussions over the past few weeks regarding the bi-lateral tours between India and Pakistan, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) hereby agree that the senior men’s cricket teams of India and Pakistan will play each other as per the schedule...,” said the letter from Sanjay Patel, the then BCCI Secretary to Najam Sethi, the then Chairman of the PCB and now a senior functionary of that board.
The BCCI had also said then that it will make “all efforts to engage in a limited-overs format short tour to Pakistan in November 2014 based on the availability of possible dates”.
This commitment has created the dilemma for the BCCI as well the Narendra Modi government right now.
For BCCI, non-fulfillment of the commitment could lead to adverse legal ramifications as Future Tours and Programmes (FTP) is binding on both the nations.
The dilemma for the government on allowing the series is because of the chill in India-Pakistan relations.
To seek a view from the government, BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur has written to Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar. The government is weighing all options before taking a decision.

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