LAHORE - Pakistan Cricket Board chief Shaharyar Khan yesterday put Pakistan in a further ridiculous position, making mockery through a series of statements on proposed Pakistan-India cricket series.
The Pakistan cricket chiefs, who were earlier humiliated by the BCCI in India for no show of BCCI president Shashnak Manohar for a meeting they had been invited under so-called Shiv Sena threat, remained delusional to accept the fate of the series. They further disgraced themselves as well as the nation and are begging to India to honour the Memorandum of Understanding instead of taking legal options.
The PCB has pinned hopes for the India series to be held on India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj’s current visit to Pakistan, claiming the matter of the cricket series would come up in Indian FM meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
But now the fate of the planned series appears to have taken a turn for the worst after Shaharyar again hit the headlines saying that India's FM did not discuss the cricketing ties with Prime Minister on her visit.
“We were hoping for some positive development finally but it is very disappointing that cricket was not discussed in the meeting between the Indian Foreign Minister and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,” a dismayed Shaharyar said. “The prospects of organising a series now seem very bleak and we stand to lose at least $50 million under the current scenario,” added the PCB chief. The $50million looks like the reason that keeps PCB interested in India and they have gone over length to make the series happen, bulldozing the national as well as self-esteem in the process.
Earlier in the day, PCB chief confirmed to the Indian media that the BCCI gave green signal to the series. Later, Indian media quoted the same PCB chief as saying India will not play a bilateral series with.
But the PCB chief told Pakistan media that though the time for arranging the series had already run out he still had not ruled out the possibility of series and would kept on waiting for a final Indian response till Thursday’s morning.
It is no secret that the PCB chief is very fond of issuing media statements as well as holding press conferences and the ‘old man’s habit’ seems making him a laughing stock just like one of his predecessors Ijaz Butt.
On the other hand, the BCCI seems enjoying the scenario and trying to play with the PCB by contrasting and contradicting statements to buy time to give final response to Pakistan and it may be tactical move just to avoid legal obligations for refusing to play the series.
Instead of playing on cricket filed, the BCCI is playing mind games and the lust of $50m and enthusiasm of PCB chief to demonstrate his diplomatic skills being a former diplomat are helping their cause.
In this mind games, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur, an influential member of parliament of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India, is playing crucial role to keep the PCB hopeful and disappointed at the same time. Earlier, he vehemently opposed playing a series with Pakistan. Later, he became the avid supporter of the cause and even went on saying that the Indian government should not take into account the negativity of social media about Pakistan and playing with Pakistan was right step forward.
On Wednesday, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said Sushma Swaraj's visit was a "step in the right direction" in improving bilateral relationship between India and Pakistan but just stopped from saying if a cricket series would go ahead.
However, he struck a discordant note when he told a national TV channel on Wednesday: “We cannot play cricket with Pakistan when people are dying (at) the border.”
So it seems the PCB chief and other high-ups are playing at the hands of the BCCI and in the end, they should brace for either getting peanuts or stick as reward.