PCB won’t go to India until deal is fulfilled

Cricket365
January 19, 2016

The Pakistan cricket team will not be facing India in a bilateral series any time soon, say the PCB, unless India fulfill their end of the deal they made two years ago.

The sides, who have not faced each other in a bilateral series in nearly a decade due to political tension, were supposed to play each other in December 2015.

But India's government would not give the team permission to go to Pakistan, and the BCCI refused to play in the UAE, which has been Pakistan's home base since 2009.

The initial agreement, signed in 2014, says that Pakistan must host four of six series between the sides between 2015 and 2023, but none have been played yet. The PCB refuse to let India have the first series there, saying the BCCI have been tricky about sharing revenue.

PCB boss Najam Sethi told ESPNcricinfo: "They will have to fulfill what they owe us this year or the next [before we can tour India]. They owe us four home series, and Pakistan gets to host the first one.

"It was supposed to happen in December but [it didn't]. Eventually, they have to fulfill their obligation before we will go there. They either have to play us in the UAE, or Sri Lanka or wherever we can mutually agree on. They have to keep their contractual obligation.

"They had snubbed us in 2009, and when we went to India to play a bilateral (limited-overs) series in return in 2012, they didn't share revenue.

"Now according to the current MoU I made them sign, Pakistan get four home series, two for them and they agreed. Despite that, they have held our 2015 series and postponed it for next available window but this time they have to play before getting to host us in 2017."

The BCCI have said there is no window in 2016 for a series to be played in Pakistan, but Sethi said that if they really wanted to, India would make a plan.

He added: "Where there is a will there's a way. I don't see any reason why BCCI can't play this year. If both governments allow us to play then it not really hard to find a 10 to 15 days, but for this there should be a will."