‘We will sign for new ICC events only if India play us’

KARACHI: Pakistan have finally decided to play hardball on the issue of bilateral cricketing relations with India.

Om Tuesday, Najam Sethi, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, announced that his team will only play in the World Test and One-day leagues, recently unveiled by the International Cricket Council (ICC), only if the Indian cricket board (BCCI) honours the MoU signed between the two boards in 2014 to play bilateral series.

“PCB will only sign on the document for participating in the World Test and ODI leagues if India fulfils its obligations to play bilateral cricket with Pakistan outlined in the MoU signed between the two boards,” PCB Sethi told reporters in Lahore.

Sethi recently attended an important ICC moot in Auckland. He said that Pakistan’s participation in the new ICC events was conditional.

The ICC, after its meetings in Auckland, announced that nine teams would take part in the World Test league scheduled to start after the 2019 World Cup with each team playing six series on home and away basis across two years.Similarly, the ODI league will feature 13 teams with each team playing eight home and away series in two years time.

The leagues are being launched by the ICC to make the Test and ODI formats more meaningful.Sethi said Pakistan had made it clear that it would only participate in the leagues only if the BCCI honoured the MoU document signed in 2014 and resumed playing bilateral cricket with Pakistan.

He noted that any Test or ODI league would be meaningless without Indo-Pak bilateral matches.

“The documents signed by participating boards have to be handed over to the relevant committee in three or four months time,” he said.“We will only sign if we get what we want. India fulfilling its obligations as per the MoU in 2014,” he stressed.

In the MoU, which Sethi signed with his BCCI counterpart, the two countries were slated to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2023 with Pakistan hosting the first series in 2015/16. —with inputs from agencies