BCCI seeks permission from government of India to play against Pakistan

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has requested the government of India to allow them the permission to play a bilateral series against neighbours Pakistan. Though the Indian board has been adamant at not playing any bilateral cricket for almost 5 years now the need to honour the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two boards has forced them to reach out to the government.

India and Pakistan are all set to face each other in the Champions Trophy on June 4. The high-octane game has already been sold out and will attract the biggest viewership and might even upscale the final of the tournament unless it is a rematch for the title.

Times Now reported that “The BCCI has written to the Govt of India asking for permission to play against Pakistan for a bilateral series as per the MOU” with a tweet to start the debate on social media well before the matter is actually discussed by the people who matter.

The BCCI has written to the Govt of India asking for permission to play against Pakistan for a bilateral series as per the MOU

— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) May 25, 2017

PCB’s Legal move

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has on its part stated at multiple platforms that they have faced significant financial losses due to the dishonouring of the MoU and have also sent the BCCI a legal notice to either play the series or pay compensation.

“India signed a proper MoU which is more off a contract between the two Boards to play six series out of which two have already been wasted while the third this year is also unlikely. As a result we have suffered heavy losses of revenues,” PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said.

“We have now decided to pursue the legal course and we will be sending a notice to the BCCI after which we will move forward to recoup our losses as we want to play cricket and we don’t believe in this matter of government and politics not allowing India not to play with us,” he told the media in Lahore.

It will be interesting to see the stand that the Indian government takes given the two countries have had immense tension due to the border dispute and a diplomatic standstill arising due to the cross-border terrorism troubles.