Daily Times

KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan has said that India is holding back progress on the Pak-India series adding that he hopes the political atmosphere improves and cricket relations can be build-up once again. “The PCB signed an agreement in which it agreed to the idea of the Big 3’s influence on world cricket in 2014 with the clear understanding that India will play six series with us over a period of eight years,’ Shaharyar told Pakpassion.net. These series would have been played in India or a mutually agreed venue in a third country. The BCCI told the PCB that they needed permission from the Indian government for these series and the PCB agreed to wait for that but that permission never came through. “The PCB even agreed to play India in Sri Lanka back in December but even that permission was not forthcoming from the Indian side and as a result the series didn’t happen. It also showed that India had not met PCB’s conditions for accepting the Big 3 formula,” said Shaharyar. “The Pakistan government has never created any hurdles to this series and even at the time of the ICC World Twenty20 when all sorts of threats were being made, Pakistan still participated in the tournament. It is the Indian government which is holding back progress on this series.” Speaking about lack of international cricket in Pakistan, Shaharyar said the PCB would be presenting its case in the International Cricket Council (ICC) conference. “The crux of the problem is that we cannot play home series against international sides. And we are obliged to hire expensive venues in other countries. Therefore the ICC should help us overcome this problem. Let’s see how the ICC reacts to it and whilst they may be receptive to the idea, whether a formula emerges to compensate us for this expenditure is yet to be seen,” he a