PCB has put conditions before ICC for playing matches with India in T20 World Cup. The main demands include higher revenue share and resumption of bilateral series with India. Talks are ongoing between the two and there is a possibility of a match.
Islamabad: The Pakistan Cricket Board has put some conditions before the ICC to back out from its threat of boycotting the match against India in the T20 World Cup. The PCB has made it clear in talks with the ICC that if their demands are met, they will withdraw the boycott threat and play in the match to be held in Colombo on February 15.
Main demands of Pakistan
One of the main demands of Pakistan is to increase the revenue share of ICC. Currently, Pakistan receives $34.5 million from ICC’s annual earnings (fourth place after India, England and Australia). Pakistan’s demand is that they want a greater share in the profits worth crores from the India-Pak match.
Pakistan is also demanding that the bilateral series with India be restarted. India-Pakistan bilateral cricket matches have been stalled for a long time due to political reasons. The second demand is that ICC should intervene to restart it. But the Government of India has to take the final decision on this rather than the BCCI, hence it is difficult to get any guarantee in this matter.
Pakistan has also demanded that it should be given more importance in ICC in the management and administrative decisions of the tournament. Meanwhile, talks are going on between ICC and PCB under the mediation of Singapore Cricket Association chairman Imran Khawaja and Oman Cricket chief Pankaj Khimji to convince Pakistan. According to international media reports, an agreement may be reached soon and the February 15 match is unlikely to be cancelled.
At the same time, the stand of the Indian team is clear that even if Pakistan does not come to play on the 15th, they will still reach Colombo. India will get a walkover (2 points) if Pakistan retreats. This will adversely affect Pakistan’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals, so BCCI is unlikely to be ready for any kind of compromise.
The Pakistan government had earlier announced that they would not play the match against India. This decision was taken in protest against the exclusion of Bangladesh from the tournament for refusing to come to India citing security reasons. But, the biggest source of earning in cricket around the world is India-Pakistan match and canceling it will cause huge financial loss to ICC. PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi is trying to take advantage of this situation to get his long standing demands fulfilled.