In a move that may further deteriorate the relation between the two countries, the Board of Governors of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) gave the approval for adopting legal recourse against the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for not honouring the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in 2014 for a bilateral series.
PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan and Najam Sethi, who heads the executive committee, told the media in Karachi after a meeting of the BOG that the members had given approval for using legal channels to seek compensation for the financial losses suffered by the PCB due to India not honouring the MoU.
“We will start legal consultations soon over the matter as the BOG has today given approval. The fact is that the BCCI signed a MOU document with us to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2022,” Khan recalled.
He added that even the International Cricket Council was witness to the MoU.
The PCB claims that India owes it two home series which translates into millions of dollars.
“The International Cricket Council (ICC) is witness to this MOU. We will now be consulting our legal team to take up the matter of India not playing us under the MOU with the BCCI and at the ICC level,” Khan said.
Sethi made it clear that the PCB had until now been patient with the Indian board despite them disregarding the MOU.
“But now our patience has also run out because we were supposed to host two home series under the MOU from which we could have earned millions of estimated revenues. But since they are not honouring the MOU we have suffered losses,” Sethi, who signed the MOU when he was chairman of the board, said.
India has not played a bilateral series with Pakistan since 2007 when Pakistan toured India for a full Test series. The PCB claims that India owes it two home series which translates into millions of dollars for Pakistan cricket.
In January, the PCB even agreed to host a short one-day series in Sri Lanka as part of the MOU but the BCCI backed out by stating they had not clearance from their government for the series.
Khan said when the BCCI was so reliant on their government for playing Pakistan they should have thought about it before signing the MOU.
“We will now take up this matter with the ICC because the Indian board claims it has been stopped by its government from playing us. We have the MOU to back us and we want to see the instructions from their government in writing,” he added.
He said it was unfortunate that the BCCI had not honoured a written agreement.
Khan also announced that the board had decided to leave the decision of retirements to senior players Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi.
“We will not take any decision they will have to decide themselves when they feel it is the right time to retire. All three have given Yeoman service to Pakistan cricket and we respect this and want to ensure they are the ones taking this decision,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
