BCCI dismisses PCB's claim of not honouring 'contract' to play Indo-Pak series

Kolkata, April 23 - The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday dismissed Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) claim of an alleged MoU between the two nations to play a bilateral series, saying only a "statement of intent was inked in April 2014.

"It was a statement of intent. I don't blame them (PCB) for sticking to the letter. But it is not a contract," BCCI's Acting Secretary Amitabh Chaudhary told IANS on the sidelines of the five-day International Cricket Council (ICC) meet here.

Earlier in a letter, a copy which is in possession of IANS, dated April 9, 2014, the then secretary Sanjay Patel wrote to PCB chief Najam Sethi, saying: "Further to our meetings and discussions over the past few weeks regarding the bilateral tours between India and Pakistan, the BCCI and PCB hereby agree that the senior men's cricket teams of India and Pakistan will play each other as per the schedule in the formats set out below.

"BCCI and PCB agree that the rights for the tour will be assigned to a fit and proper person and will be as detailed in the Master FTP agreement. The BCCI and PCB will enter into a long form FTP Agreement in respect of the above Future Tours.

It said that the BCCI and PCB acknowledge that the letter has arisen in the context of the resolutions which have been tabled at the ICC Executive Board meeting on February 8, 2014.

"It is related to a new financial model and governance structure for the ICC including the third in a series of six resolutions relating to all Full members entering into a series of agreements with one another providing for agreed FTP content between 2015-2023.

"And as such if those resolutions are not passed at the ICC Annual Conference in June, 2014 by directors nominated by Full Members of the ICC at that meeting and the representatives of Associate Members and the 4 ICC Zonal representatives, then this letter shall be of no effect.

"Please counter-sign this letter where indicated below to confirm your agreement to and acceptance of the terms of this letter."

Earlier, PCB chief Sethi had slammed the BCCI for not incorporating the "permission from central government" clause in the alleged contract to play bilateral series.

"If India comes to Pakistan, they want security and vice-versa because of the political situation. But there is no security issue if we play in a third country, which is what we have been saying. We play our home games in the UAE," Sethi had told reporters in an interaction on Monday.

"But apparently the BCCI is having difficulty in ensuring that they can do that. They say they don't have government permission. Our position is that why should you require government permission? We don't take government permission. The ICC does not want interference from the government in affairs of cricket boards," he said.

"In any case, when you were signing the contract, if government permission was such a major issue, you should have put it in the contract, you did not. So what is the problem," he asked.

As per the newly drafted Future Tours Programme (FTP), India have slots for Pakistan series, but it won't happen till the clearance comes from the Indian government.

India and Pakistan haven't played a bilateral series December 2012.

IANS