Meanwhile, Pakistan ready to play in India, says PCB chief
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has rejected Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) demand of compensation for not playing bilateral cricket series with the Asian neighbours.
The PCB had earlier this month sent a legal notice to its Indian counterpart for failing to honour the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two cricket boards in 2014.
The PCB had also demanded compensation close to USD 60 million from the BCCI for not honouring the MoU signed when N. Srinivasan was at the helm of affairs in the Indian board.
In response to PCB's notice, the BCCI has said that the MoU signed in 2014 is not a "legally binding document" and that India didn't play because of government's clearance, hence the Indian cricket board cannot be blamed.
According to the 2014 agreement, India were scheduled to play six series against Pakistan, four of them were going to be Pakistan's home series, subject to clearance from the Government of India.
In April 2017, Sethi informed that they have decided to sue the BCCI for failing to honour an agreement to play a bilateral series.
In December, he had revealed that the PCB had suffered a loss of 200 million dollars because of India's refusal to play the promised series against Pakistan.
While the BCCI has repeatedly snubbed Pakistan's request for resumption of ties, the PCB wants the Indian cricket board to honour its commitment of six series between 2015-2023 under the MoU signed, which is subjected to clearance from the Government of India.
Despite not playing a full-fledged bilateral series against Pakistan since the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, the arch-rivals have played each other a number of times in the ICC events, with the most recent coming at the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup.
Although, Pakistan toured India for a short series in December 2012.
Meanwhile, a desperate PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan on Thursday said that Pakistan is ready to send its national cricket team to India for a bilateral series despite reluctance from their Indian counterparts (BCCI).
Shaharyar also indicated that Pakistan might eventually tour Bangladesh in July-August and confirmed that the Bangladesh Cricket Board had sent them a tentative itinerary for the tour.
"The PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) would be willing to even send the team to play in India but unfortunately the situation is that the BCCI is not even ready to play with us in their own country citing security threats," he said at a function at the Karachi Press Club.
"We would be willing to play in India despite security threats," he added.
Shaharyar's statement comes after the PCB has sent a notice of intent to the BCCI seeking compensation for the India's refusal to honour the MOU signed between the two boards in 2014 to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2023.
India and Pakistan have not played a full bilateral series since the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008 but in the winter of 2012-13 Pakistan went to India for a short limited over series as a goodwill gesture hoping India would also reciprocate.
The PCB chief said that even the International Cricket Council (ICC) wanted bilateral ties to resume between the two countries as an Indo-Pak series commands a special place in world cricket.
He said the PCB would keep its window open for the scheduled series with India in December, 2017 as part of the MOU but it was a fact that India's refusal to play Pakistan had hurt the PCB financially.
