BCCI engages UK lawyers to fight Pak at ICC
NEW DELHI: Twenty four hours before Wednesday’s Asia Cup blockbuster between India and Pakistan in Dubai, Board of Control for Cricket in India officials were busy getting ready for another battle. In Dubai on Tuesday, senior BCCI officials met agents of an international law firm to ward off Pakistan Cricket Board’s $70 million claims for India twice refusing to play a bilateral series.
The BCCI has engaged UK-based Herbert Smith Freehills to fight Pakistan’s petition filed at the International Cricket Council’s disputes resolution committee. The three-day hearing will begin in Dubai on October 1. The PCB is seeking compensation for India refusing to play bilateral series hosted by Pakistan. The Indian government did not clear tours to Pakistan in 2014 and 2015 due to political reasons. PCB claims it lost millions of dollars in TV earnings.
The hearing at the ICC will be held under UK laws. The BCCI has engaged sports disputes specialist Ian Mill to front the legal exchanges. UK-based Mill is well known in the sports field.
He has worked for the England and Wales Cricket Board and served on the legal cells of the 2012 London Olympics, Football Association and International Tennis Federation among others.
On Tuesday, BCCI officials met Herbert Smith Freehills officials for over five hours. The background of the case was briefed to the UK advocates by BCCI’s legal partners in India, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.
Pakistan pressed on the gas after Ehsan Mani recently replaced Najam Sethi as the PCB chairman. Mani, a former ICC president between 2003-06, has always been a strong opponent of BCCI’s strong-arm tactics due to its massive financial muscle and control over member nations.
“Their (Indian) policy has been overall contradicting, because they are always ready to play in multinational tournaments like Asia Cup and World Cup but pull out on bilateral arrangements,” Mani had said earlier this month. He ruled out any compromise with the BCCI saying, “the case has already gone too far”.
In 2014, BCCI and PCB signed a Memorandum of Understanding to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2023 with Pakistan hosting the first series in 2015/16.
If India and Pakistan do not agree to play each other, the ICC’s ambitious World Test and ODI league championships, scheduled to start in 2019, may not take off as PCB may not sign off on the terms and conditions for member nations to play against each other.
India last played a Test with Pakistan in 2007. The two nations clashed in a bilateral limitedovers series in 2013 and have met in the 2015 Cricket World Cup and 2017 Champions Trophy. BCCI has repeatedly said the fate of an India vs Pakistan bilateral series rests with the government.
SENIOR BCCI OFFICIALS MET AGENTS OF AN INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRM TO WARD OFF PCB’S $70 MILLION CLAIMS FOR INDIA TWICE REFUSING TO PLAY A BILATERAL SERIES.