PCB rules out series with India
Lahore , December 09 – Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Shahryar Khan has ruled out the Pakistan-India cricket series, saying it is too late to begin the bilateral series, local media reported on Wednesday.
Talking to reporters here at the PCB headquarters, Shahryar said Pakistan had agreed to the December series. “The Indian government has not honoured the memorandum of understanding,” he said.
He regretted that progress could not be made on the much anticipated series between the two countries, saying the PCB would bear a loss amounting to $5 billion if the series is not played.
Earlier, reports circulated in the media that India’s Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj – who is in Islamabad to attend the Heart of Asia ministerial conference - would discuss the proposed bilateral series in her meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
“I am informed that the matter of the cricket series will be raised in the meeting with the Indian minister so we can wait for more time. Of course, there will be logistical issues and it will be hard to arrange the series in such a short time but we will try to make sure everything will be sorted,” the PCB chief had said on Monday.
The former world champions were set to play a bilaterlal series in this month.
Meanwhile BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur told the media on Wednesday that Sushma Swaraj's visit was a "step in the right direction" to improve the bilateral relationship between the two nations but did not commented anything about the series.”
Thakur, a BJP MP, had earlier said that "cricket was impossible in a climate of terror."
The two arch rival on and off the cricket field, signed a MOU in 2014 that Pakistan will be hosting the current series after India had hosted the previous two .Although India and Pakistan have came face to face in events like the World Cups and Champions Trophy, a bilateral series has been few and far
between.
According to the ICC calendar, India and Pakistan were originally set to play two Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20 internationals in December-January 2016. In recent months, India and Pakistan had different opinions. about the location of the series. While Pakistan were adamant that India should play at their adopted 'home', United Arab Emirates, BCCI always wanted Pakistan to be hosted by them .
