India will ‘inevitably’ resume bilateral cricket with us, says PCB chief

KARACHI: Pakistan’s cricket chief Najam Sethi believes that India will “inevitably” agree to revive bilateral cricketing relations with Pakistan.

Sethi, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), told ‘The News’ in an interview on Tuesday that the Indian cricket board (BCCI) has so far failed to fulfill its commitment to play bilateral matches against Pakistan because of the Indian government’s hawkish approach towards Islamabad.

“The BCCI is hostage to the politics of the Pakistan-hating BJP,” said Sethi referring to India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which is a Hindu fundamentalist party with an anti-Pakistan agenda.

“But we are all familiar with the ups and downs in India-Pakistan relations. India is playing Pakistan in ICC tournaments,” he said.Sethi believes that the Indians will eventually agree to resume bilateral ties with Pakistan because it’s in their interest too.

“India will inevitably play bilaterally with Pakistan again because that is in the interests of both PCB and BCCI,” he said.It’s been ten years since India last played a full series against its biggest rival — Pakistan. And the way things are going it could take another decade before the two nuclear neigbours resume bilateral cricketing ties.

On its part, PCB has been trying without success to line up reciprocal matches with India. It has also been planning to take legal action against BCCI over its failure to fulfill its commitment of playing bilateral matches with Pakistan. But in the current political scenario, a bilateral series featuring Pakistan and India remains highly unlikely in the near future.

A few weeks back, the Indian government made it clear that there will be no bilateral cricket with Pakistan not even at neutral venues.No bilateral cricket with India means heavy losses for the PCB which is seeking compensation of $70 million from the BCCI for not honouring the MoU signed in 2014, which said that both the countries would play six series between 2014 and 2023.

That’s not all. There is this feeling in Pakistan’s cricket circles that India has marginalised Pakistan in international cricket by effectively forming a ‘big four’ group with England, Australia and South Africa.

There are fears that because of India, Pakistan are out of international cricket’s big league.“Not at all,” stressed Sethi. “Pakistan is currently head of the Asian Cricket Council that includes India, Bangla Desh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan — five out of ten top ICC full members.”

Meanwhile, former Pakistan Test pacer Shoaib Akhtar has said that cricketers from both Pakistan and India have been deprived of a chance to experience the greatest rivalry in world cricket because of politics.

“It is terribly sad that cricketers from either side of the border are not often getting to experience the Indo-Pak rivalry. Along with the Ashes, it is the biggest series in the game,” Akhtar said in an interview.“The cricketers are not getting a chance to become overnight heroes for their respective countries. Pakistan cricketers are adored in India, I myself have got so much love from India.“I really wanted the current Pakistani crop to experience the same kind of love we received in India back in the day and showcase their talent,” he said.