PCB comes up with alternate venues for Indo-Pak cricket

While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has time and again made it clear to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that no cricketing ties outside of the ICC ecosystem can take place between the two countries, the latter still doesn’t seem to surrender to it, and is instead coming up with new alternatives to the issue.

On Monday, the two cricket boards met in Dubai for a meeting. Although nothing concrete resulted from the meet, it was known that the BCCI is unlikely to pay any financial compensation to the other board which claims to have suffered huge financial losses from BCCI’s decision to not play Pakistan in any bilateral series due to cross-border terrorism.

PCB wants BCCI to accommodate Pakistan in a series in Florida 

But the Pakistan board has asked the BCCI to explore other possibilities. The teams may feature in a series in Sri Lanka early next year as part of their 60th independence anniversary.

Gi­les Clarke, head of the Pa­kistan Task Force, is mediating the talks between the two boards. The ICC might even send representatives to hold talks with the Indian government which is firm in its stand to not let terrorism and cricket go hand in hand. But the BCCI is against any third party intervention and believes the bo­­a­­r­ds can handle this on their ow­n.

BCCI reiterates its stand, says no cricketing ties outside of ICC tournaments possible 

The Indian board told PCB that their hands are tied and they won’t be able to commit to any bilateral series until the central government gives a nod. The Pakistani board thus wants to explore other options; at top of them being Indo-Pak cricket in multi-nation events.

Sources reveal that the PCB has requested the BCCI if it could accommodate Pakistan in a series in Florida which will likely be played between India, Australia and South Africa. “There were talks of playing each other in multilateral events. But chances of Pakistan playing in Florida are minimal because the window is short, but Sri Lanka could be a possibility. We have had talks on this before,” a board official said.