PCB demands $70m from India for not honouring proposed cricket series

What’s the story?

The Pakistan Cricket Board has filed a $70 million lawsuit against the Board of Control of Cricket in India, according to ESPNCricinfo.

The International Cricket Council confirmed receiving of PCB's legal notice on Thursday.

“The ICC has received a Notice of Dispute from the PCB’s lawyers, which will be forwarded to the Chairman of the Dispute Resolutions Committee next week,” an ICC spokesman said.

The PCB is demanding a hefty compensation for its losses as the BCCI failed to play two slated bilateral series in November 2014 and December 2015.

According to the notice, PCB and BCCI had agreed in April 2014 that Pakistan and India would play six bilateral series between December 2016 and December 2022.

In case you didn’t know…

Owing to the strained diplomatic relations between the two countries, India and Pakistan have not played a complete bilateral series since 2007.

After the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 160 people were killed, New Delhi halted bilateral cricketing ties with Pakistan and the stalemate has continued since.

Since international cricket has been suspended in Pakistan, following the attack on Sri Lanka players in 2009, the two planned series were to be staged at a neutral venue.

The heart of the matter

This is not the first time that the PCB has demanded compensation for the ongoing matter.

When N Srinivasan was the BCCI president, the PCB had demanded close to $ 60 million from the BCCI for not honouring the MoU.

Earlier this year, BCCI rejected the PCB's demand, stating that the MoU was not binding and also raised the security issue in Pakistan.

In May, the PCB had sent a legal notice to the Indian board for not honouring the MoU.

What’s next?

Pakistan toured India for a short series in December 2012 and the two arch-rivals played each other several times in the ICC events but a full-fledged bilateral series between the two neighbours looks highly unlikely unless the Indian government gives a green signal, which might not see the light of the day anytime soon considering the volatile relationship between the neighbours.

As far as PCB's case is concerned, the ICC Dispute Resolution Committee, headed by Michael Beloff QC, will appoint independent adjudicators for the hearing.

Author’s take

The ongoing tussle between the BCCI and PCB over infringement of the MoU has been on for almost a year now, but the ICC has not yet taken a clear stance on it. Hence, it will be an interesting watch if PCB's last resort will flutter wings both in the ICC and the BCCI.