Let Pakistan stop terror and then we can think about playing cricket: Anurag Thakur

India and Pakistan have been in loggerheads with each other, which also has hampered their cricket to a significant extent. Currently, the arch-rivals only lock horns in tournaments organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). Both recently crossed swords in a couple of ODIs in the Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In the meantime, the ICC is set to conduct a hearing on Pakistan’s claim of $70 million (approximately INR 500 crore) for India refusing to play a bilateral series. The three-day hearing is set to get underway on October 1 in Dubai. However, former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) presidents N Srinivasan and Anurag Thakur have refused to attend the hearing.

India should not pay a penny to Pakistan

“India have done nothing wrong to appear in a judicial hearing and that too summoned by the ICC. India and Pakistan is a bilateral matter; what business has ICC to do with it? ICC cannot compel us to play and any pressure (on BCCI) can lead to an international crisis.

“India should not pay a penny to Pakistan. Let Pakistan stop terror and then we can think about playing cricket,” Thakur was quoted as saying in Hindustan Times.

The world’s richest cricket board has called upon a number of witnesses to face the three-member ICC Dispute Resolution Committee, headed by English barrister Michael Beloff, who’s also the chairman of the ICC Code of Conduct Commission. Meanwhile, the BCCI has hired Herbert Smith Freehills, an UK-based international law firm and sports disputes specialist Ian Mill to front the legal exchanges.

Srinivasan, Thakur and CCI secretary Sanjay Patel, who signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that scheduled bilateral series between India and Pakistan from 2015 and 2023, are among the witnesses. India and Pakistan are next scheduled to play in the 2019 Cricket World Cup in England and Wales.

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