The ongoing legal dispute between the PCB and BCCI will be heard by the ICC dispute committee from October 1-3. The hearing will take place in Dubai with Hon Michael Beloff QC chairing the Dispute Panel. Pakistan are claiming up to USD 70 million in revenue from India for not playing two bilateral series – in November 2014 and December 2015 – which were agreed by the boards in 2014 as part of ICC’s Future Tours Programme (FTP). However, newly-appointed PCB chairman Ehsan Mani said he is still open to sorting things out with the BCCI.
“This process has already gone beyond resolving it amicably. It’s in the final stages of reaching a conclusion. Both sides have to find a common solution for the future and I’ll explore every possibility for the sake of the game. Had I been involved when the dispute happened, every effort would have been made to sort it bilaterally. Unfortunately, we are where we are. We have to still progress, but my doors are always open,” Mani said at a press conference.
“Cricket boards have to work towards playing cricket, they shouldn’t get into politics, that’s what we’re talking with our Indian counterparts,” he said. “There’s some bridge-building to do, hopefully we will be able to make some ground because the relations haven’t been great.
“I have already had a very constructive discussion with my colleagues from India who are here. We’ll have a lot of common ground going forward. We all understand whatever has happened in the past has happened; we have to move forward. At the end of the day, the game is bigger than any one person; it’s bigger than the politicians. It reaches out across global spectrum.”
