No Chances of Resumption of India-Pakistan Bilateral Ties in Near Future

Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Shahryar Khan has admitted to the fact that despite several efforts made to ensure the return of India-Pakistan bilateral ties, he doesn’t see it happening anytime soon especially due to the political turmoil surrounding the two countries.

With tensions on the border and terrorism charges made by the Indian government against Pakistan prove that it won’t allow the BCCI to go ahead with any bilateral cricketing ties with their arch-rivals.

However, the two neighbours continue to meet each other in ICC global tournaments such as the World Cup, Champions Trophy and T20 World Cup.

“The real reason behind the absence of India and Pakistan bilateral series is political and has nothing to do with either the PCB or the BCCI. In the current political climate, I really do not see any way in the near future that both teams will be able to play each other,” Shahryar was quoted as saying by pakpassion.net.

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“The fact of the matter is that we have always been willing to play India anywhere, but it’s been the Government of India who have forced the BCCI to refuse to play us and there is not much we can do about that. I don’t see a bilateral series between India and Pakistan anytime in the near future,” he added.

However, the former chief ruled out any possible attempts of foul play on the part of BCCI and also stated the board was just following what its government had asked them to do. He also took a dig at former ICC chief Ehsan Mani who claimed their demand for compensation would only go on to hurt the relations between the two.

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“He (Mani) is of course entitled to his own opinions, but I do not agree with that. The relations between the two boards have never been a problem. I will say it again, it’s the Government of India and their insistence on the improvement of the political climate which is the main hurdle between the two sides,” said Shahryar. “It has nothing to do with our compensation claim which is really our right to exercise, and we are doing that via the proper channels.

“I know for a fact that they tried to convince their Government and explained to them that there would be a loss of revenue for both India and Pakistan. However, the Government of India has stuck by its stand that unless the political climate improves, there can be no resumption of cricketing relations between both countries. They will simply not allow it. But, I am hopeful for the future and hope things can change, but at this time, there is no chance of any India-Pakistan cricket contact in a bilateral context. We will continue to play India in ICC tournaments as we did in the Champions Trophy and so on, but no Test or Limited Overs series will be played between the two countries in the foreseeable future,” Shahryar Khan concluded.

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