The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has sought written assurance from the BCCI that the Pakistan team would face no problem in obtaining visas to play in the 2021 T20 World Cup in India and the 50-over World Cup to be held in 2023.
“We are also looking at the fact that the ICC World Cups are to be hosted in India in 2021 and 2023 and we have already asked the ICC to give us written assurances from BCCI that we will not face any problems getting visas and clearance to play in India.” PCB CEO Wasim Khan said in an interview.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has spoken to ICC in the matter to seek written assurance from the BCCI well in advance so as to avoid any last minute hiccups.
PCB chief executive Wasim Khan said in an interview to a YouTube channel that since there are two ICC events to be held in India in the near future, there is a need for them to get written assurances in advance, and hence, have already initiated dialogue with ICC to get them the said assurances.
He also spoke about the decision of the hosting of T20 World Cup in 2020, and mentioned a call should be taken in the next meeting. In case the World Cup doesn’t go ahead, sources suggest that India will keep the hosting rights for 2021 and a window in 2022 will be sought for the 2020 edition to take place.
“The big question now is when the World T20 is held in 2021 will it be hosted by Australia or India as India has the hosting rights for the already scheduled World T20 Cup in 2021,” he said.
“The way things are, the gap available in 2022 will be used to accommodate the 2020 World T20 if it is not held this year.”
Wasim was adamant that Pakistan being a key member of the ICC, would only go to India for the ICC events upon securing written assurances about visa and also, security of its players and officials.
Pointing to recent incidents where Pakistan athletes found it hard to obtain visas to play in India, which also prompted world bodies to not give India hosting rights in the future unless things are sorted, Khan mentioned it was important for them to seek clearances well in advance.
“That is why we have asked for the advance assurances. But eventually it is an ICC event and it is their responsibility to ensure we as a full member and signatory of the participants agreement go and play in these ICC events.”
Khan however, ditched any rumours of a possibility of a bilateral series between the two countries.
“We have a good relationship with the BCCI but we know realistically, a bilateral series is not possible in the foreseeable future.”
Khan also spoke about possibility of Ganguly becoming the ICC chief and said he wasn’t sure of how things stand currently in that regard.
“We are getting mixed signals and we don’t know if Ganguly will decide to stand for the ICC post,” he said.
PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani’s name has also been mentioned as a strong candidate to replace Monohar but he recently in a media interaction made it clear that he was committed to Pakistan cricket for the next three years.
