ISLAMABAD - Former cricketer Abdul Qadir Thursday asked for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention in Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in order to sort out its bilateral series brawl with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
It may be mentioned here that the PCB had signed an MoU with BCCI to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2023. Four of those series were to be hosted by Pakistan and the six tours pending a legal agreement will include up to 14 Tests, 30 ODIs and 12 Twenty20s.
The first of these bilateral series was to take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last year in December but it did not happen as the Indian Government didn't gave a green signal to the BCCI for the series.
Recently, PCB executive committee chairman Najam Sethi also demanded financial compensation from BCCI and ICC for losses incurred due to India's refusal to play bilateral series against them.
Qadir said the PCB should go first to the International Cricket Council (ICC) and must ask them to intervene in the matter as to sort out the issues regarding the bilateral series. “The time is high when the ICC must stop its biased attitude towards Pakistan and confront the BCCI for its wrongdoings." He said when it came on banning a Pakistani player on bowling action then ICC stepped in at once and banned the player but when it was time to do something for Pakistan, the ICC always backed out. "If the ICC does not give a helping hand in the matter, then Indian PM Modi must step in and ask the BCCI to dissolve the problem," he said.
He said Modi should have understood that it was not matter of politics but sports. "Sports should be kept aside from politics and the Indian PM must deal with this matter maturely," he said.
He said the people of the subcontinent want to see Pakistan-India matches and a game should be seen as a game, not as politics. "The MOU cannot be overlooked as it is a legal agreement and India is bound to play Pakistan. If India still refuses, then they should compensate the PCB,” Qadir concluded.
