Indian government rules out cricket series with Pakistan
Indian Sports Minister Vijay Goel on Monday reaffirmed India’s stance concerning a bilateral cricket series with Pakistan.
“Cricket and terrorism can’t go hand-in-hand,” the Hindustan Timesquoted the minister as saying while he spoke to reporters in New Delhi.
“India and Pakistan can’t play bilateral series till the terror from Pakistan remains,” Times of India quoted Goel as saying.
“[The] BCCI should speak to the government before giving any proposal to Pakistan. I have made it clear that bilateral cricket with Pakistan is not possible till the time there is cross-border terror. We have, however, no say on multilateral events,” he added.
Pakistan and India are due to play each other at the Champions Trophy in England on June 4.
The two countries have not played a bilateral series in India or Pakistan since 2012.
Later today, top officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and BCCI are due to meet in Dubai to begin negotiations over the financial loss suffered by the former due to India’s constant refusal to resume bilateral series with Pakistan.
The BCCI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the PCB in 2014 for six bilateral series between two countries between 2015 and 2023 with Pakistan hosting four and India two.
It was in return for PCB’s support for ICC’s ‘Big Three’ formula, which saw India, Australia and England become major beneficiaries of the income of cricket’s governing body. The ‘Big Three’ model was scrapped in April this year.
The PCB is looking for a compensation of US$69.4 million for India not living up to their commitment, with the BCCI claiming it isn’t receiving the green signal from its government.
