‘Taking A Legal Option Against BCCI The Only Option’

Jan 2, 2017 at 10:07 AM

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‘Taking A Legal Option Against BCCI The Only Option’

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) executive committee chief Najam Sethi has insisted that the cricket board has no other option but to seek legal action against the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for their failure to honour the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) they had signed with their Pakistan counterpart a couple of years ago.

The cricket boards, in 2014, had signed MoUs for six bilateral series to be played between 2015 and 2023. However, the MoU has not been implemented due to escalating political tensions between the two neighbours. The two arch-rivals have not played a full bilateral Test series since 2007 when Pakistan visited India for three Tests and five One-Day Internationals. They played a short series of three ODIs and two T20s in India in December 2012 but otherwise both have faced each other only in the ICC organised events or the Asia Cup.

Any hope of seeing the two nations playing a bilateral series looks bleak now after last year’s Uri attacks in which 19 Indian soldiers were martyred. The BCCI has clearly stated that they will not resume the bilateral ties with Pakistan and they have even asked the International Cricket Council to not pit the two countries in the same group in ICC tournaments.

Not playing against India has taken a toll on PCB’s revenues and they have now decided to take legal steps to seek compensation from the Indian board.

Speaking to Indian Express, Sethi said:“The board has advised us to seek legal option. This is the only option. We would seek the advice of our legal office about where the matter should be persuaded.”

The Indian cricket board has said they will play against Pakistan only after getting clearance from the government but Sethi feels it is only an excuse.

He said:“That’s not relevant. There’s no mention of any such thing in the contract. The contract is a commercial contract; it has nothing to do with the diplomatic relations between the two countries. The two countries are not in a state of war.”

On India’s stance of avoiding Pakistan in ICC tournaments, Sethi said:“India has to play Pakistan in an ICC event. If India doesn’t play Pakistan, then we would ask for compensation for our commercial share (from the matches). India-Pakistan matches provide huge commercial revenues (to the ICC coffers) and out of that kitty goes money to all the countries. So we have a right to make a claim there as well.”

The PCB official also feels the matter cannot be solved by conducting a dialogue between the two boards.

“Well, every time we met the BCCI people, we spoke about the resumption (of bilateral series). We didn’t get a satisfactory answer. They invited us to Mumbai (for a proposed meeting between then BCCI president Shashank Manohar and the PCB delegates including Pakistan board chairman Shahryar Khan in October 2015). We went there and they didn’t meet us. They didn’t even show the courtesy to explain why they didn’t meet us and what their position was,” Sethi revealed.

“That was despite the fact that in Dubai, in the presence of Giles Clarke (former ECB president and current ICC finance and commercial affairs committee chairman), there was a commitment to at least give us an answer. So basically it means, no yes, no no, and that’s not acceptable,” he added.

He also said he had personally met the BCCI president Anurag Thakur in recent months but the talks have not been fruitful.

“I personally met Mr Thakur in Cape Town, South Africa, about three months ago (during the ICC Board meeting). He heard what I had to say but didn’t have a response. Then, I raised all these issues at the ICC meeting,” he said.

He also said Thakur had no specific answer when he asked him about the resumption of bilateral ties.

When asked whether the PCB will seek financial compensation, he said:“We have an agreement and the ICC is a party to that. It has been agreed upon during (the structuring of) the ICC’s Big Three formula, under certain terms and conditions. So our position is that the ICC is not just a witness to it but also a guarantor of it. We have budgeted these things in our future development plan. We are hurt by this (BCCI’s snub) and will seek compensation.”

Speaking about the next course of action, he said:“Look, the lawyers will tell us what to do. The board has told us to seek legal advice and how to proceed legally. So now we will consult lawyers and then will proceed. But the fact is that we are moving one step forward in terms of legal redressal. At a personal level, I want to reiterate I personally have very good relations with Thakur and Manohar.”

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