New Delhi, June 28: According to Pakistan Cricket Board’s Chairman Shahryar Khan, it is India who is holding back the progress of reviving the Pakistan versus India series, saying that he hopes the political tension between the two neighbouring countries lessens, boosting the cricket relations amongst them, Indian media reported on Tuesday.
Khan stated that the PCB had signed an agreement in 2014, with an understanding that India would play six series with Pakistan over a period of eight years.
Shahryar was quoted by Indian media reports: “These series would have been played in India or a mutually agreed venue in a third country. The BCCI told PCB that they needed permission from the Indian government for these series and PCB agreed to wait for that but that permission never came through.”
He further added: “PCB even agreed to play India in Sri Lanka back in December but even that permission was not forthcoming from the Indian side and as a result, the series didn’t happen. It also showed that India had not met PCB’s conditions for accepting the Big 3 formula.”
The last time Pakistan played a Test series with India was way back in the 2007-08 season, where India were the winners. The last time these two cricket teams played an ODI series was in the 2012-13 season, where Pakistan were the victors, with the series taking place in India. The PCB chairman also added: “Pakistan government has never created any hurdles to this series and even at the time of the World Twenty20 when all sorts of threats were being made Pakistan team still participated in the tournament. It is the Indian government which is holding back progress on this series”
He further added: “The crux of the problem is that we cannot play home series against international sides which is denigrating towards us. We intend to propose that as we cannot play series at home and we are obliged to hire expensive venues in other countries, therefore, the ICC should help us overcome this problem.”
The PCB chairman was also hopeful that the ICC would come up with a formula to compensate the PCB for this expenditure.
India emerged victorious in their tour of Zimbabwe after a whitewash in the ODI series, while they won two of the three T20 matches, despite fielding a much younger and inexperienced squad. They will be touring to West Indies in mid-July under the guidance of new head coach Anil Kumble. – Online
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