Internet Desk: The parent body of world cricket ICC’s Chief Executive Officer Dave Richardson has said that they can’t force India to play bilateral series against arch rival Pakistan.
While talking to the media in Lahore, Richardson also made it quite clear that ICC is more in favour of India compared to the PCB.
“If India is not ready to play with Pakistan, we can’t force them to do so,” he said.
He further added that ICC has always raised their voice in favour of good relations among its member nations and don’t want any member to involve in legal battles among each other.
“You have to understand that bilateral series is always held with the agreement of two cricket boards and though we would like to see India and Pakistan play bilateral matches they have political tensions and any cricket is dependent on their existing relations,” Richardson said.
He, however, insisted that if India and Pakistan were in the same group in any ICC event they would have to play against each other.
While India has steadfastly refused to play bilateral cricket with Pakistan since 2008, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has maintained it is getting ready to file a compensation claim with the ICC’s disputes resolution committee against the BCCI for not honouring an MoU signed between the two boards in 2014.
The ICC CEO said the world body remained neutral when it came to Indo-Pak cricket relations.
“We are aware that Pakistan has even offered BCCI the option of playing at neutral venues and they are going to the ICC disputes resolution committee with their claim but we remain neutral,” Richardson said.
Richardson said that in the existing situation it didn’t appear likely for India and Pakistan to resume bilateral ties soon.
“India gives the ICC a lot of business but in our eyes all member nations are equal,” he added.
PCB chief Najam Sethi also told the media that they had asked the ICC to nominate three representatives of other boards to look into the Pakistan’s claim against India.
“We would like to see a logical and proper end to our compensation claim which is being finalised by our lawyers now,” he said.
Richardson also spoke about the absence of any Indian player in the World XI outfit and said it was decided with the PCB that coach Andy Flower would not approach any Indian player because of the sensitivity of the tour.
“If an Indian player had been in the team this tour would have got a lot more attention and it would have meant more pressure and security requirements for everyone,” he said.