Daily Times

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is waiting for a decision on its dispute claim against India before finalising its slot for International Cricket Council’s proposed future tour program (FTP) from 2019 to 2023. Many eyebrows were raised when documents Tuesday revealed that Pakistan are scheduled to play only 38 bilateral ODIs and 28 Tests in the four-year cycle from 2019 to 2023. However, an official of the PCB was quoted as saying Wednesday that the board was waiting for a decision by the dispute panel before deciding on slots for at least 19 matches. “That is because we have 19 matches with India not slotted, yet awaiting clearance from ICC dispute resolution committee,” said the official, when asked why Pakistan has got fewest number of matches in the new FTP. The official explained that if dispute panel decided against Pakistan then the PCB would have an option of filling the slots with other teams.

He further added that the FTP won’t be signed until the decision on the dispute was announced. “No FTP schedule will be final until decision in our case. If we win, India will have to slot our matches. If we lose we will have these slots filled in by others,” the official said. The PCB had earlier officially stated that any decision by the dispute resolution committee should be reflected on the FTP. “Under the prevailing circumstances, it is the PCB’s position that if the Dispute Resolution Committee decides the dispute in PCB’s favour then any FTP will need to be adjusted to reflect the decision,” he said. “Any agreement of the PCB to any new FTP structure will therefore be without prejudice to its existing claims against BCCI and will be subject to the outcome of the ICC dispute resolution process.” The PCB has claimed a compensation of $70 million from BCCI for not honouring its commitment of playing series according to the MoU signed between the two boards.

Published in Daily Times, December 14^th 2017.