ICC sets aside BCCI plea, says it has 'no jurisdiction' over KPL

KARACHI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has clarified that it has "no jurisdiction" over non-international cricket tournaments, including Kashmir Premier League (KPL).

The ICC issued the statement after reports suggested that BCCI has urged ICC not to recognise the Kashmir Premier League sanctioned by the Pakistan Cricket Board. The KPL is set to commence from August 6 in Muzaffarabad.

A spokesperson of ICC told Geo News, “The tournament is not under ICC’s jurisdiction as it is not an international cricket tournament.”

It is pertinent to mention here that the ICC regulation for the sanctioning of an event, clause 2.1.3, states that each national cricket federation shall have the sole and exclusive right to sanction the staging of domestic matches within its territory.

The ICC can interfere only, according to clause 2.1.4, if matches are to be held in the territory of an associate member's territory.

According to a report by a cricket website, the BCCI letter’s basis is the “disputed status” of the region.

It is worth mentioning that India has played two international matches, against West Indies in 1983 and against Australia in 1986, in the India-occupied city of Srinagar.

Earlier, there were reports, which were validated by a tweet by former South African cricketer Herschelle Gibbs which confirmed that BCCI was contacting various boards to stop foreign players from participating in the league.

The PCB had expressed displeasure over BCCI’s move.

“The PCB considers that the BCCI has brought the game into disrepute by issuing warnings to multiple ICC Members to stop their retired cricketers from featuring in the Kashmir Premier League, further threatening they will not be allowed entry into India for cricket-related work,”

“Such conduct from the BCCI is completely unacceptable, against the preamble of the Spirit of Cricket and sets a dangerous precedence, which can neither be tolerated nor ignored,” PCB had said.