Pakistan ready with back-up plan if India refuses to play: PCB

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan has said that the PCB has been working on a back up plan if India refuses to play the bilateral series in the United Arab Emirates in December.

Shaharyar said that he remains hopeful that eventually the series would go ahead as planned despite the ongoing tensions between the two countries.

"I am hopeful but yes we have started working on a back up plan which I can't disclose right now...we have spoken to some boards...incase the series does not take place in December. And we can't afford to leave this window unused," Khan said.

The former career diplomat said that he has been touch with Indian authorities and the Pakistan government but admitted the response from the Indians has been slow and slack.

"It is our home series and the first of the six series MOUs we have with the Indian board. If it does not take place than I don't know what will be the future of this MOU," he said.

The PCB and the Board of Control for Cricket in India had signed the MOU last year when the International Cricket Council underwent drastic governance changes with the big three, India, Australia and
England

taking charge of the ICC affairs.

The MOU was also supposed to be a trade off for Pakistan not resisting the election of former BCCI president Srinivasan as the chairman of the ICC.

Khan said that at the moment the series is still on but the PCB has kept a period of two months to allow the Indian board to finalise its plans.

"After two months it will become even difficult for us to prepare for the December series so we have to be prepared," he added.

Khan said despite the tension in relations between the two neighbours after the Gurdaspur terrorist attack and more skirmishes on the LOC he still believed that sports and politics needed to be kept apart.

"Our stance is clear cricket must be played between Pakistan and India despite the political conditions at a given time. In 1999, I was manager when we went to India to play a full series even though Indo-Pak relations at that time were tense," Khan, who was based in New Delhi during his tenure as Pakistan's High Commissioner, said.