ISLAMABAD – The Pakistan Cricket Board is ready to accept any ruling ofthe International Cricket Council Disputes Resolution Committee but wantsIndo-Pak bilateral series added to the Future Tours Programme for 2019-2023if it wins the case.
PCB chief Najam Sethi, who returned home after attending several meetingsof the ICC Executive Board and other committees in Kolkata, told the mediathat Pakistan had signed the FTP documents conditionally.
“We have made it clear that if the ICC’s Disputes Resolution Committeerules in our favour in October, then India must play against us in the newFTP programme,” he said.
Sethi said he had signed the documents on the condition that if the ICCcommittee ruled in PCB’s favour, matches against India would be added tothe FTP.
“Even if the result is otherwise we still have got confirmed around 123matches in the new FTP so we have done well,” he said.
The ICC gave a final shape to the FTP at the meeting in Kolkata but thecurrent schedule does not include any Pakistan and India bilateral matches.
The PCB has also filed a compensation case with the ICC, saying that theBCCI has not honoured an MoU signed in 2014.
The ICC has said its Disputes Resolution Committee will arrive at a verdicton the compensation claim of around USD 70 million by Pakistan after afour-day meet in Dubai in October.
Sethi has exuded confidence that Pakistan can win the compensation case asits legal team has prepared a strong case against the BCCI.
“Our stance remains that the MoU signed between the two Boards in 2014during the ICC meetings confirmed that both boards would play six bilateralseries between 2015 and 2023,” the PCB Chairman said.
The BCCI has said the MoU is not a legally binding document and wasconditional to Pakistan supporting the Big Three Governance system whichhas been dissolved now and that they had said they needed governmentclearance to play against Pakistan.
Sethi made it clear that Pakistan had no objections to playing againstIndia but first the ICC will have to decide the case.