PCB sticks to its guns over tour of BD

KARACHI: Pakistan’s cricket authorities are sticking to their guns about the conditions they’ve set before confirming the national team’s tour to Bangladesh lined up for April-May this year.
A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official told ‘The News’ on Friday that the Board has told Bangladesh in clear words that the series will only materialize if Pakistan’s demands are accepted.
“We have told Bangladesh that they have to accept our demands otherwise Pakistan’s tour of Bangladesh later this year will be in jeopardy,” the official said.
Pakistan, according to the present Future Tour Programme, are supposed to tour Bangladesh for two Tests, three ODIs and a T20 between April 10 and May 7.
However, the PCB had demanded 50% of the revenue from the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), as well as an exchange of the Under-19s and A-team tours. The board said that unless Bangladesh agreed to their terms in writing, they would not give the BCB an assurance of the tour.
The PCB had informed the BCB that they are sticking to their demands and also insisted on making every agreement a written and legally binding one before getting into any commitment.
The FTP is no more a central agreement between the ICC and its members. Now there are bilateral agreements between member nations and boards can decide individually whether playing each other is commercially viable or not.
The issue was discussed by top Board officials from Pakistan and Bangladesh on the sidelines of an International Cricket Council (ICC) moot in Dubai earlier this week.
The official said that during the negotiations, PCB made it clear that unless Pakistan gets a fair share from the series and Bangladesh confirms sending the U19 and A teams, there would be no tour.
“The thing is that there is nothing for Pakistan in an away series against Bangladesh,” the official said. “That’s why they (Bangladesh) need to make it tempting for us.”
According to the official, BCB has told PCB that it needs some time before taking a final decision on Pakistan’s demands.
“The Bangladesh board wants to talk to its government regarding the possibility of sending its junior and A teams to Pakistan,” the official said.