Mumbai: After Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) softened the stance on its threat to boycott the T20 World Cup clash with India and agreed to hold discussions with the International Cricket Council (ICC), hectic parleys were held between the two sides on Sunday.
In the first half of the day, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Aminul Islam reached Lahore on an invitation of PCB. Later in the day, an ICC delegation led by deputy chairman Imran Khwaja, who represents Singapore in the body, also reached Lahore and held discussions. No agreement had been worked out at the time of writing.
The Pakistan board wanted BCB to be a party in the talks as a bargaining asset. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had informed his cabinet that his decision to direct PCB not to play India in the World Cup league clash in Colombo on February 15 was “to stand with Bangladesh”. The Pakistani side accuses ICC of double standards in rejecting Bangladesh’s demand to have its World Cup matches moved out of India to co-host Sri Lanka for security reasons.
While ICC has allowed PCB optical leverage of the talks taking place in Pakistan, it is known to be unwilling to accept any “unreasonable demands”.
With the stakes on the India-Pakistan tie very high, the governing body is known to be adopting a carrot and stick approach. In the week since the Pakistan PM made his social media post on the team being asked to boycott the money-spinning India match, ICC has acted firmly citing the contractual paperwork.
In response to PCB invoking force majeure – a legal measure that excuses a party from carrying out its obligations in case of unforeseeable events (government directive, in this case) – ICC wrote back to PCB asking them what steps they had taken to mitigate the issues that led to it claiming majeure issues.
Having taken no steps on that front and being on a weak legal wicket, PCB is known to have agreed to talks. In its communication to the Pakistan board, ICC had outlined the conditions under which force majeure can realistically and legitimately be invoked. It had also mentioned the threshold required for non-participation besides outlining the sporting, commercial and governance implications of such a step.
Effectively, PCB faced the threat of being asked to bear commercial losses from not playing the India game, lose its share of the ICC revenue and face being isolated in the cricket community.
PCB is known to be ready with a fresh set of demands. Reports in the Pakistan media say that PCB will seek an increase in its revenue share and resumption of India-Pakistan bilateral ties. Both demands are likely to be rejected. Another suggestion from the Pakistan side could be to seek ethical conduct from the Indian players, questioning the end of convention with regards to hand-shakes at toss and post-match. This is a matter, sources close to the development say, could be mutually worked out.
Other than that, the only other concession expected from ICC, should Pakistan withdraw its boycott stand, could be absolving it as well as Bangladesh of any financial or administrative sanctions for their actions.
ICC has consistently kept its doors open for negotiations, starting from its first statement hours after the Pakistan PM’s post.
“While the ICC respects the roles of governments in matters of national policy, this decision is not in the interest of the global game or the welfare of fans worldwide, including millions in Pakistan,” the statement had said. “The ICC hopes that the PCB will consider the significant and long-term implications for cricket in its own country as this is likely to impact the global cricket ecosystem, which it is itself a member and beneficiary of. It expects the PCB to explore a mutually acceptable resolution, which protects the interests of all stakeholders.”
Even as fans and commercial stakeholders await a resolution, players from both the teams are also in the dark. Pakistan captain Salman Agha called the boycott a “government decision” while India’s Suryakumar Yadav said the team was planning to take the flight to Colombo. “Our mindset is clear. We have not refused to play – they have. We’ve booked our flight and we are going,” he said on Thursday.
