PCB prepares to take legal action against BCCI

PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan stated that they could take legal action and seek compensation from the BCCI after ICC ruled in favour of Pakistan and awarded them six points in a dispute over the women’s series which India forfeited. The series was scheduled for September-October in Dubai.

“The ICC had asked the BCCI to show the letters or any other documents with their external ministry to confirm it didn’t send its team to play Pakistan in the ICC Women’s Champions League in UAE on advice of its government,” Shaharyar said.

“The ICC technical committee awarded points to our women’s team declaring the series as forfeited by India because the BCCI couldn’t show any document which confirmed they were stopped by their government from playing the series,” he said.

The PCB chief said that the ICC had asked BCCI to give proper evidence to back their claim that they are unable to play Pakistan in bilateral ties due to government order.

“The BCCI couldn’t show any document to the ICC to back their claim which is why the ICC committee awarded six points to Pakistan,” he said.

The BCCI was not impressed with ICC’s decision after Pakistan stated it was ready to host India for the league championship series in Dubai.

Shaharyar also made it clear that ICC’s support and their decision against the BCCI had given confidence to PCB.

“We now want the Indian board to provide the ICC with evidence that they have been told by their government to not play us in bilateral series despite a written MoU signed between the two boards in 2014 to play six such series between 2015 and 2022,” he told the “Jang” newspaper.

“We were even ready to host our home series in Sri Lanka last January under the MoU but India said it didn’t get clearance from its external ministry.”

India has refused to play Pakistan in a full bilateral series since 2007 when Pakistan went to India. Shaharyar said that if India refuses to play Pakistan in the Champions Trophy, ICC would then have legal ground to take strict actions against BCCI.

He also made it clear that India’s refusal to play Pakistan in a bilateral series had made Pakistan cricket suffer a lot.

“We have lost revenue and don’t have the funds to invest in our club or domestic cricket,” he said.

“We are already facing hardships due to other teams not touring Pakistan due to security concerns since 2009,” the chairman concluded.