The decision to get the main parties together to work towards a solution was taken after an ICC Board meeting on Friday that lasted less than 15 minutes. The emphasis at 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 sit down with ICC leadership, the PCB and BCCI to work towards a solution that is acceptable to all parties. There is a suggestion that talks have been taking place on the matter over the last day or so, but they will continue on Friday and likely Saturday as well. Naqvi has said publicly that he was open to the BCCI discussing any issues they have with travelling to Pakistan with him, an opportunity that he has now been presented with.
In all likelihood, any proposal will have to be run past the governments of both India and Pakistan before it is presented to the ICC Board for approval; India was refused permission to travel to Pakistan by the Indian government and the PCB has said repeatedly, as a result, that any action they take will have to be approved by their government.
The ICC Board, which comprises representatives from all 12 Full Member countries, had called for Friday’s meeting with three options on the agenda for how the tournament would play out:
The PCB has more or less stuck to its public stance of not wanting a hybrid model, though in the last couple of days mention has been made of it being dependent on certain conditions – which could involve a similar reciprocal arrangement for future ICC events in India where Pakistan may not now get permission to travel. On Thursday morning, Naqvi didn’t directly rule out a hybrid model – as he had done in the past – but said only that any decision would have to be approved by the Pakistan government and would be in the best interests of Pakistan. One board director told ESPNcricinfo: “The hybrid model is the only possible way out of this impasse.”
The tournament is due to begin in less than 90 days, on February 19. Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi are the venues inked into host the games, though if a hybrid option is chosen, that will involve another venue outside Pakistan. A match schedule of the tournament had been approved at the ICC Board meetings in October this year, though the issue of India’s travel was always going to be an obstacle.
An official explanation was referred to by a spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday, who said that “security concerns” meant India were unwilling to travel. “The BCCI has issued a statement so I would refer you to it,” said the spokesperson during a routine press briefing. “They have said there are security concerns there and therefore it is unlikely the team will be going there. Please do refer to the statement issued by the BCCI.”
The BCCI has not issued a public statement on the matter of their travel to Pakistan, nor has security been specifically highlighted as an issue. In fact, the BCCI has treated the decision on traveling to Pakistan as one to be made by the Indian government rather than the board.
Additional reporting by Firdose Moonda>
