The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has said that they will only agree to play in the ICC’s Test Championship and ODI league if India honour the memorandum of understating (MoU) signed between the two boards in 2014.
The Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) had signed a MoU with its Pakistan counterparts for the holding of bilateral series between the two countries in 2014 but has yet to commit to the same.
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The MoU stated that the two countries would hold six series between 2015 an 2023 with the first being held in Pakistan.
PCB chief Najam Sethi was speaking to the media in Lahore upon his arrival from the recently concluded ICC Board meeting in Auckland.
“PCB will only sign on the document for participating in the World Test and ODI leagues if India fulfils its obligations to play bilateral cricket with Pakistan outlined in the MoU signed between the two boards,” the PCB chairman said.
The PCB supremo made it clear that the ICC’s newly introduced Test Championship and ODI League can only work if India and Pakistan agree to play a bilateral series.
Bilateral series between the two countries has been put on a hiatus after the BCCI’s refusal to do so following government directives.
Matches between the two sides is currently limited to ICC events only.
The ICC has recently introduced an ODI League model comprising 13 teams where each team will participate in eight home and away series in a two-year cycle.
Similarly the Test Championship format will see the top nine sides three series each home and away in a two-year cycle with the top two teams fighting it out for the champion’s mantle in a one-off Test.
Sethi remarked that Pakistan would only sign on the dotted lines foe the new models once India honours the MoU to hold bilateral series.
“The documents signed by participating boards have to be handed over to the relevant committee in three or four months time,” he said.
“We will only sign if we get what we want. India fulfilling its obligations as per the MoU in 2014,” he concluded.