The decision to bring key parties together to work towards a solution was taken following an ICC Council meeting on Friday that lasted less than 15 minutes. The emphasis of the meeting was to find a way to break the impasse surrounding 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 boards.
Some other member councils will now meet with the ICC leadership, the PCB and the BCCI to work towards a solution that is acceptable to all parties. There is a suggestion that negotiations on the matter have taken place in recent days, but will continue on Friday and probably Saturday as well. Naqvi has said publicly that he was open to BCCI discussion about any issues they had in traveling with him to Pakistan, an opportunity that has now been presented to him.
Most likely, any proposal will have to be submitted to the governments of India and Pakistan before being presented to the ICC Council for approval; India was refused permission to travel to Pakistan by the Indian government and the PCB has repeatedly said as a result that any action it takes will have to be approved by its government.
The ICC Council, which comprises representatives from all 12 full member countries, called Friday’s meeting with three options on the agenda for how the tournament would be held:
The PCB has remained more or less true to its public stance of not wanting a hybrid model, although in recent days mention has been made that it depends on certain conditions – which could involve a similar reciprocal agreement for future ICC events in India where Pakistan may not now obtain authorization to travel. On Thursday morning, Naqvi did not directly rule out a hybrid model – as he had done in the past – but only 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 ESPNcricinfo: “The hybrid model is the only possible way out of this impasse.”
The tournament is scheduled to start in less than 90 days, on February 19th. Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi are the chosen locations to host the games, but if a hybrid option is chosen, it will involve another location outside of Pakistan. The tournament’s playing schedule was approved at the ICC Council meetings in October this year, although the issue of India’s travel was always going to be a stumbling block.
An official explanation was referred to by an Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson on Friday, who said that “security concerns” meant India was unwilling to travel. “The BCCI has issued a statement, so I would like to forward it to you,” the spokesperson said during a routine press conference. “They said there are security concerns there and therefore the team is 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 his Pakistan tour, nor has security been specifically highlighted as an issue. In fact, the BCCI treated the decision to travel to Pakistan as a decision to be taken by the Indian government and not the board.
Additional reporting by Firdose Moonda>
Source link
