BCCI has not rejected the proposed FTP, but hasn’t approved either: Najam Sethi

The chief of Pakistan Cricket Board Najam Sethi has claimed that BCCI has neither approved nor rejected to play Pakistan from 2019. As per the proposed Future Tours Programme (FTP), both teams are slated to play 19 matches from 2019 in a four-year cycle until 2023. The political tension between the two countries has led to no cricket being played between India and Pakistan in a bilateral series. They only lock horns during an ICC event and played twice against each other this year in ICC Champions Trophy in June.

International Cricket Council (ICC) approved the Test Championship and ODI leagues during their meeting with all the boards representative in Auckland a couple of weeks ago. However, the question of the arch-rivals facing each other was raised by PCB as BCCI has been awaiting the clearance from the Indian Government to play against them. The officials of ICC assured the Pakistani board of working a way out for both teams to play against each other inside or outside the leagues.

BCCI stays adamant on the issue

There are no comments from any of the officials of the Indian board on the issue as Pakistan is desperate to play India. Najam Sethi cleared that the board representative neither accepted nor rejected the proposal of playing the Men in Green according to FTP. “The ICC floated an FTP for all Test playing nations for the period 2019-2023 including the Pakistan-India matches. The BCCI has neither approved nor rejected the proposed FTP, “ he said.

He also cleared that PCB wanted ICC to include the same number of matches in the four years that were outlined in the MoU signed between the boards in 2014. But he was also sure that BCCI might influence ICC to add the clause of Government clearance. “We are sure India will eventually want the ICC to include the clause of government clearance in the FTP for matches between the two countries. But at the Auckland meeting they neither approved nor rejected the proposed 19 matches,” Sethi added.