Edgbaston offers to be neutral venue for India v Pakistan series

Over the last few days, the teams of India and Pakistan have been in the news for two big reasons. The primary reason for their popularity in the media is the upcoming Champions Trophy clash. The arch-rivals are set to lock horns at Birmingham, Edgbaston on June 4 in the mother of all clashes. The other reason why the two countries have been making news in the cricket world is pertaining to their recent tussle over the bilateral series.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been keen on playing bilateral series against India. Their Indian counterparts – the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) – on the other hand, have been reluctant to go forward with it. The BCCI has had a firm stance when it comes to facing Pakistan in a bilateral series. Recently, the Union Minister of India, Vijay Goel, brought an end to all speculations with his remark.

He noted that there is no question of having a bilateral series with Pakistan until they feed the cross-border terrorism. The political tensions have seen the two teams stay away from one another for quite some time now. Back in 2014, the two boards had signed a MoU in regard to which India had to play 8 bilateral series with Pakistan till 2023.

Snowball expresses desire to be neutral venue

The MoU was not acknowledged by the BCCI though. Other boards have offered to play the neutral ground for the Indo-Pak clash though. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) had expressed their desire to host the two countries. Now, in a conversation with BBC Sport, Warwickshire chief executive Neil Snowball has quoted that Edgbaston is very keen on becoming the neutral venue for India-Pakistan series.

“We have the experience of handling it. It is not the sort of game you can take anywhere because it is a completely unique match with a completely unique collection of fans and atmosphere. If they wanted this game at a neutral venue, I would hope they would consider Edgbaston. We would be very interested in looking at that,” Snowball quoted.