No chance of India-Pakistan series in December, says Rajiv Shukla

Rajiv Shukla said that a bilateral series between India and Pakistan was still a distant dream

Senior BCCI official Rajiv Shukla has confirmed that the chances of the India-Pakistan series scheduled for December going ahead as scheduled was close to zero, IBNLive reports. The IPL chairman also reacted strongly to the comments by PCB chairman Shahryar Khan that Pakistan would boycott India in ICC and ACC events if they pulled out of the tour stating that Pakistan alone will have to bear the consequences if they actually carry out the threat.

The first of the six bilateral series set to be played between the arch rivals, as per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two cricketing boards, is in serious danger of being shelved as the political situation between the two nations continues to be tense. The breaking point for the tour seems to have been the Gurdaspur terrorist attacks in July following which BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur stated that cricket and terrorism can’t go hand in hand.

Khan had written a letter to Thakur seeking clarification on the BCCI’s stance on the issue, but with no response on the offering, the PCB supremo had made the comments that has now prompted an angry response from Shukla.

"Is this statement of Shaharyar Khan a threat to the BCCI or the ICC?," asked Shukla. "PCB is bound by the rules of the ICC if it backs out it will have to bear the fine."

Shukla also took a dig at Pakistan stating that it was the unsafe situation in the country that was the root cause of the matter as none of the major cricketing nations were willing to tour them.

"I want to make an appeal...can you (PCB) guarantee the security to the players in its country? Because of security concerns, leave alone England and Australia, even Bangladesh team does not want to go there," Shukla said.

Shukla emphasised that safety would be the deciding factor if a bilateral series between the two nations is to become a reality, before seeming to pull the plug on the series scheduled for December.

"After finalising the cricket series with Pakistan, we will go to the Government for permission. But before that there are a number of issues that have to be resolved, so there is no chance of a series in December," Shukla said.

"There are certain requirements, safety being the top priority, that first need to be met in order for the series to take place at all. Indo-Pak series still a distant dream," Shukla said at another event, as reported by NDTV.