Pakistan Cricket Board hopes bilateral series with India still a possibility

Reuters: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Shahryar Khan said yesterday (1) that he is still hopeful of a bilateral series with India as Pakistan is ready to host a series in UAE in December.

Khan was in India to offer his condolences to the family of late president of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Jagmohan Dalmiya, who died last month of cardiac arrest.

The PCB Chairman said India must honour the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two cricket boards last year.

“We have signed with India this MoU that we will play six series, both India and Pakistan, and the Pakistan series so far is in UAE. We have signed on the dotted lines that we will play this and the first of this series will be in UAE in December. Now this is an agreement between us and I feel that the BCCI should honour that agreement,” said Khan in eastern Kolkata city.

In August, India had said no cricket activity will take place with Pakistan as long as the latter supports militancy against it.

India has not played a bilateral test series against Pakistan since 2007, though they did host them for two T20 internationals and three ODIs between December 2012 and January 2013.

The India-Pakistan cricket rivalry is one of the most intense sports rivalries in the world anticipated by the fans of both the countries.

Any match between the two nations attracts millions of viewers and reportedly the count goes up to one billion according to TV ratings.

Meanwhile, Khan hoped the cricket series would continue despite sour relations between the neighbours and the sport can be used as a bridge to peace and harmony.

Khan and BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur are due to meet in Dubai in a week’s time to further discuss the cricket series.

Khan had now left the final decision with the Indian Government.