Nov 11 (Emirates247): The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday proposed hosting a limited-over series with Pakistan, comprising five one-day and two Twenty20 internationals.
“We are committed to playing Pakistan in December. However, since it’s not possible to play them in Pakistan or the UAE, we have to look at playing the series in Northern India in December,” BCCI president Shashank Manohar told The Hindu.
After his election in October, Manohar had said that resumption of India-Pakistan series hinged not only on the decision of the cricket boards, but also on the decision of the two governments in New Delhi and Islamabad.
Top BCCI officials have already started talks with the government and another series of discussions are expected to take place after Diwali, according to Indian media.
“To play against Pakistan we need to get government permission. So we need to speak to the government and abide by whatever decision the government takes,” said Manohar who was nominated as ICC chairman after BCCI at its AGM on Sunday withdrew support for N Srinivasan.
BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur will be approaching the Union Home Ministry to get confirmation for the series.
“We want cricketing ties to happen, we don’t want politics to hamper cricket,” a top BCCI official was quoted by The Indian Express.
“We will be going with a few proposals: one, where we can have five ODIs and two T20s. In the second proposal, we can have three ODIs and two T20s. All these games will be played in those parts of the country where we feel there will be no disturbance from political parties.”
While the development may provide some relief to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), there has been no mention of a full-fledged Test series between India and Pakistan as agreed upon between the two boards in 2014 on the sidelines of an International Cricket Council (ICC) annual conference in Melbourne.
Earlier, the BCCI in a letter to the PCB on Oct 29 expressed regret over the cancellation of talks between Shaharyar Khan and Manohar.
The BCCI, in its letter, said that they have approached the Indian government for the approval of a bilateral series between the two traditional rivals.
Shaharyar Khan, along with a three-member PCB delegation, visited India to discuss with Manohar to take a final decision whether India was ready to play the series as per the MoU signed last year.
However, members of Indian extremist party Shiv Sena party sabotaged the scheduled meeting at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, when around 40 to 50 individuals stormed the venue of the meeting prior to its start.
The two countries have not played a full series against each other since 2007, though Pakistan toured India for a short series in December 2012.