Pakistan Cricket Board’s chairman, Najam Sethi said the ball is India in court and the decision about bilateral series has to be made by the BCCI now.
India and Pakistan had not played a bilateral series in the last five years, and chances of these two countries playing in a bilateral series in the near future seem very bleak.
The political relations between the two countries have been on bitter terms in the recent times. It is the major reason for the two nations not playing against each other.
The BCCI is the richest cricket board in the world. BCCI has the responsibility to control cricket in a cricket frenzy country India.
BCCI earns great revenues through IPL and from so many bilateral series the country hosts. The PCB has now sought compensation of USD 70 million from India for refusing to play any bilateral series with Pakistan.
The two countries only play in multi-team events like 50-over World Cup, Champions Trophy, World T20 or Asia Cup.
Sethi during an interaction said,
“Firstly, the two sides need to play each other for the sake of the people of the sub-continent. Secondly, the ball is in the BCCI’s court. That’s it. We hope sooner than later better sense will prevail and the two sides can get back to playing good cricket again. My sense is that all this is a melting pot and at some stage or the other, we will have to have a good resolution.“
The PCB chairman also said Indian media should also play a proactive role to help in the resumption of cricket between the two countries.
“See, right now India has not slotted Pakistan into any of the matches. Our position is that whatever we sign right now is going to be subject to the decision of the tribunal. If the tribunal holds in our favour, then the FTP will have to be changed to accordingly.”
“I’m just surprised that there’s not sufficient media pressure here in India for the resumption of cricketing ties between India and Pakistan. I am sure the people of the two countries want to see cricket between the two countries. There’s a lot of goodwill on both sides so let’s hope that the issue can be resolved in the interest of the fans. No rough weather between the two Boards. There’s no problem at all,”