In a major setback to the PCB, it has paid approximately US $1.6 million as compensation to the BCCI. As per PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani, PCB had to pay this compensation as it lost a case in the Dispute Resolution Committee of ICC. The PCB Chairman said, “We incurred costs of around USD 2.2 million on the compensation case which we lost.”
The PCB had sought compensation from the BCCI on the premise that the BCCI had failed to honour a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two cricket boards. As per the said MoU, India and Pakistan cricket teams were supposed to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2023. The PCB claimed that the BCCI failed to honour the MoU.
However, the BCCI argued that they were unable to play cricket with Pakistan as the Government of India did not permit them. The BCCI also dismissed PCB’s claims as legally binding. PCB Chairman, Mani said, “The ICC committee did accept that Pakistan had a case and that is why the damages/cost we had to pay to the Indian board was around USD 1.6 million.” He claimed that the amount paid in the form of compensation was meant to cover costs of legal fee and travelling.
It is relevant to mention that a bilateral series between the two countries in the foreseeable future is not possible due to Pakistan’s policy of fomenting terrorism against India. The bilateral relations between the two countries are going through a really rough phase and any sporting ties in such a situation would be inappropriate. The concerned MoU was signed for the period between 2015 and 2023. It also happens to be the period when Pakistan has crossed all limits in its attempts to destabilise India.
On one hand, Pakistan is exporting terrorism into India and on the other hand, it is trying to push across its fake peace narrative by raising issues like bilateral cricket series. The Uri terror attack, Pathankot terror attack and Pulwama terror attack explain why Pakistan doesn’t deserve to have any kind of ties with India. At a time when the popular sentiment within India is against Pakistan and the government of the day is also trying to isolate Pakistan globally, organising cricket series or encouraging other forms of people-to-people contact holds no relevance.