PCB to take legal action against BCCI for not allowing India to resume cricketing ties with Pakistan

What’s the story?

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to take legal action against the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). It alleges that the Indian board didn’t honor the Memorandum of Understanding in its reluctance to allow India play in a bilateral cricket series with Pakistan.

Najam Sethi, PCB’s Executive Committee’s chairman tweeted on Wednesday that the message was conveyed to the officials of BCCI on the sidelines of ICC Executive Board meeting in Dubai.

PCB has told BCCI it is suing for compensation against BCCI's refusal to play bilateral series as per Agreement signed in 2014.

— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) April 26, 2017

In case you didn’t know…

The two cricket boards had signed a MoU which stated that they will play multiple bilateral series between 2015 and 2023. However, the central government did not give the nod to BCCI to play Pakistan due to cross-border terrorism activities.

The heart of the matter

The Indian team has not played a full bilateral Test series with Pakistan after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Although the men in green had toured India in December 2012 for a short limited-over series, the two have failed to resume full ties cricket.

In another tweet, Sethi also said that ECB chairman Giles Clarke has reviewed the situation in Pakistan and there is a proposal of having three T20 International between Pakistan and a World XI side.

He also tweeted on how the BCCI is losing the fight to stall the process of restructuring of ICC’s revenue model.

What’s next?

It will be interesting to see if the BCCI responds to the threat. But at the same time, it seems unlikely that cricket between the two neighbouring countries can resume anytime soon unless the Indian central government gives the nod.

Author’s Take

Unless the menace of cross-border terrorism is eradicated, cricketing relations between the two countries will continue to suffer. The PCB are well within their rights to take the Indian board to the court but their decision to have a legal tussle as the last resort makes for some intriguing decision-making. Fans would be hopeful of some India-Pakistan matches outside ICC competitions but with how everything is transpiring, that looks unlikely.