The decision to bring the main parties together to work towards a solution was taken on Friday after an ICC board meeting which lasted for less than 15 minutes. The meeting was to find a way to break the deadlock around 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.
A couple of other member boards will now work towards a solution with ICC leadership, PCB and BCCI which is acceptable for all sides. There is a suggestion that the matter is being negotiated on the last day, but they will continue on Friday and Saturday as well. Naqvi has publicly stated that he was open to the BCCI, in which any issue was discussed with him to Pakistan, an opportunity that he has now presented.
In all possibilities, any proposal will have to be run by the governments of both India and Pakistan, before it is presented to the ICC Board for approval; India was denied permission by the Government of India to visit Pakistan and the PCB has repeatedly stated, as a result, that whatever action they take will have to be approved by their government.
The ICC Board, which includes representatives of all 12 full member countries, called for a meeting with three options on the agenda on Friday how the tournament would play:
PCB has been stuck to its public stance of not wanting a hybrid model almost a hybrid model, although it has been mentioned over the last few days that it is dependent on certain conditions – which may include a similar mutual system for future ICC events in India Where Pakistan can no longer be allowed to travel. On Thursday morning, Naqvi did not rule a hybrid model directly – as he did in the past – but only said that any decision would have to be approved by the Government of Pakistan and would be in the best interest of Pakistan. The director of a board told ESPNCRICINFO: “Hybrid model is the only possible way from this deadlock.”
The tournament is scheduled to begin in less than 90 days on February 19. Ink is hosted in the hosting of Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi Games, although if a hybrid option is chosen, another place outside Pakistan will be included. In October this year, a match schedule of the tournament was approved in the ICC board meetings in October this year, although the issue of travel to India was always going to be a hindrance.
An official interpretation was referred to by a spokesperson of India’s Foreign Ministry (Mea) on Friday, who said “security concerns” meant that India was not ready to travel. “The BCCI has issued a statement, so I will mention you,” the spokesperson said during a regular press briefing. “He has said that there are security concerns and therefore it is unlikely that the team will be going there. Please look at the statement issued by BCCI.”
The BCCI has not issued a public statement on its visit to Pakistan, nor has the security specifically exposed as an issue. In fact, the BCCI has treated the decision to travel to Pakistan as it has been created by the Government of India instead of the board.
Additional Reporting by Firdose Moonda>
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