PCB to take legal action against BCCI

PAKISTAN CRICKET BOARD (PCB) is set to take legal action against the BCCI for not honouring the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by them in 2014.

While the BCCI has in the past snubbed Pakistan’s request for the resumption of cricketing ties, PCB, on it’s part, wants the Indian board to honour its commitment of the six series between 2015-2023 under the MOU signed, which is subjected to clearance from the Indian government. PCB has also confirmed that Pakistan would not tour India next year as scheduled in the FTP.

Speaking after the PCB’S board of governors’ meeting in Karachi, Shahryar insisted that they are not begging their Indian counterparts for a bilateral series and instead asking them to compensate for the losses that the Pakistan board had suffered.

“India signed MOU but did not play any series, so we will ask International Cricket Council to compensate this loss as the MOU was signed in an ICC meeting so they are also aware of the matter,” The Dawn quoted Shahryar as saying.

“We will file a legal case against India and will seek compensation soon or urge them to play a series against us,” he added.

Pointing out the losses that they had suffered, PCB Executive Committee Chairman Najam Sethi revealed that the board has suffered a loss of about $200 million because India refused to play the promised series against them.

The PCB chief added to Sethi’s comments saying that his country did not only bear the said financial losses but also the loss of the most-awaited series in cricket arena.

Despite not playing a full-fledged bilateral series against Pakistan since the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, the arch-rivals have played each other a number of times in the ICC events, with the most recent coming at the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup.

Imtiaz Ahmed no more

Karachi: Imtiaz Ahmed, Pakistan's former test wicketkeeper-batsman who became a chief selector after his playing career, has died. He was 88. PCB said Ahmed, Pakistan's oldest living test cricketer, died Saturday in Lahore following a chest infection. Ahmed played 41 tests from 1952-62, scoring 2,079 runs at an average of 29 and taking 77 catches.

He hit three centuries, including a careerbest 209 against New Zealand at Lahore in 1955, three years after touring India with Pakistan’s first official test side. “This is a sad day for Pakistan cricket,” PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said in a statement.