PCB Clears the Air on ICC and BCCI Champions Trophy Discussions. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Saturday refuted reports claiming that its officials will hold a virtual meeting with their counterparts from the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on November 26 to clear the uncertainty surrounding the Champions Trophy.
The announcement of the Champions Trophy schedule was delayed after the BCCI expressed its inability to send the Indian team to Pakistan for the tournament. The PCB clarified that it was not informed of any information by the ICC. “We have no information from the ICC about any meeting between us, the BCCI and the ICC,” a reliable PCB source told PTI.
The PCB also said that it has not received any response from the ICC to an email in which it had questioned Pakistan’s refusal to send its team to India.
However, an ICC source said an internal meeting is likely to be held on Tuesday to resolve the issue. The source said, “This could be a virtual meeting of the executive board members to resolve the issue of the Champions Trophy schedule.” He also said that this meeting has been called because the broadcasters of the event are putting pressure on the ICC to end the schedule as soon as possible.
There may be a vote in this meeting whether the Champions Trophy should be held in Pakistan or elsewhere or the hybrid model proposed by the BCCI should be adopted, in which India will play its matches in the UAE.
The ICC source admitted that this time the PCB has taken a tough stand and will not back down from its stand of hosting the Champions Trophy in Pakistan. The PCB says that it has no problem in hosting any team.
The source also said that if the hybrid model is adopted then the PCB has made it clear that it will not play its group match against India in Dubai. Moreover, the executive board had suggested the idea of keeping Pakistan and India in separate pools, but the broadcasters rejected the suggestion as they felt that this could lead to a drop in revenue.
In this situation, there is tension and uncertainty regarding cricketing relations between Pakistan and India, and it would be better if this is resolved as soon as possible or else a problem may have to be faced.
Leave a Reply