The decision to bring together key parties to work on a solution was made Friday after an ICC board meeting that lasted less than 15 minutes. The focus at the meeting was on finding a way to break the impasse over the eight-team tournament. A PCB team, led by chairman Mohsin Naqvi, was in Dubai for the meeting, although it was an online call for most of the boards.
A few other member boards will now sit down with ICC officials, PCB and BCCI to work towards a solution acceptable to all parties. Talks are understood to have taken place on the issue over the past few days, but will continue on Friday and likely Saturday as well. Naqvi has publicly stated that he is open to the BCCI discussing with him any issues they have during a trip to Pakistan, an opportunity which has now been presented to him.
In all likelihood, any proposal will have to be submitted to the governments of India and Pakistan before being presented to the ICC Board of Directors for approval; The Indian government has denied India permission to visit Pakistan and as a result, the PCB has repeatedly said that any action taken will have to be approved by its government.
The ICC Board of Directors, which includes representatives from all 12 full member countries, had called Friday’s meeting with three options on the agenda for how the tournament would proceed:
The CPC has more or less stuck to its public stance of not wanting a hybrid model, although in recent days it has been mentioned that it would be conditional – which could imply a similar reciprocal arrangement for future events of the ICC in India. where Pakistan now cannot get permission to travel. On Thursday morning, Naqvi did not directly rule out a hybrid model – as he had done in the past – but simply said that any decision would have to be approved by the Pakistani government and would be in Pakistan’s best interests. A board director told PK Press Club: “The hybrid model is the only possible way out of this impasse. »
The tournament is scheduled to begin in less than 90 days, on February 19. Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi are the planned venues to host the games, but if a hybrid option is chosen it will involve another venue outside Pakistan. A schedule of matches for the tournament had been approved at ICC board meetings in October this year, although the issue of India’s travel was always going to be a hurdle.
An official explanation was offered on Friday by a spokesperson for the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MEA), who said “security concerns” meant India was not prepared to travel. “The BCCI has issued a statement, so I refer you to it,” the spokesperson said during a routine press briefing. “They said there were security concerns there and hence the team was unlikely to go there. Please refer to the statement issued by the BCCI.”
The BCCI has not issued a public statement on the issue of their trip to Pakistan, nor has security been specifically highlighted as an issue. In fact, the BCCI considered that the decision to travel to Pakistan should be taken by the Indian government rather than the board.
Additional reporting by Firdose Moonda >
