Pakistan Cricket Board ready to take legal recourse against BCCI

'We will seek legal recourse against the BCCI via the ICC platform and also proper compensation for the many series they have refused to play against us and caused us heavy losses.'

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan said it is ready to take legal recourse and seek compensation from the Board of Control for Cricket in India after the ICC ruled in Pakistan's favour in a dispute over the women's series which was not held in September-October in Dubai.

"The ICC had asked the BCCI to show the letters or any other documents with their external (affairs) ministry to confirm it didn't send its team to play Pakistan in the ICC women's champions league in the UAE on advice of its government," Shaharyar said on Friday.

"The ICC technical committee awarded points to our women's team declaring the series as forfeited by India because the BCCI couldn't show any document which confirmed they were stopped by their government from playing the series," he said.

The PCB chief said the International Cricket Council had told the BCCI to show any evidence to back their claim they couldn't play Pakistan in a bilateral series due to government advice.

"The BCCI couldn't show any document to the ICC to back their claim which is why the ICC committee awarded six points to Pakistan," he said.

The BCCI is not happy with the ICC decision which came after Pakistan said it was ready to host India for the league championship series in Dubai.

Shaharyar made it clear that the ICC decision against the BCCI has given confidence to the PCB.

"We now want the Indian board to provide the ICC with evidence that they have been told by their government to not play us in bilateral series despite a written MoU signed between the two boards in 2014 to play six such series between 2015 and 2022," he told the Jang newspaper.

"We were even ready to host our home series in Sri Lanka last January under the MoU but India said it didn’t get clearance from its external ministry."

The PCB chief said theor legal team has been told to prepare a proper paper on this issue, which would be submitted by Pakistan at the next ICC meeting in Dubai in January.

"We will seek legal recourse against the BCCI via the ICC platform and also proper compensation for the many series they have refused to play against us and caused us heavy losses," he said.

The two teams last featured in a bilateral series in 2012 when Pakistan visited for a series of three ODIs and two T20Is, while the last Test series between the two teams was a three-match series in India in 2007.

Shaharyar also said that if BCCI refuses to also play Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy group stage next year in June in England, the ICC will have legal ground to take strict action against it.

He further said that due to India's refusal to play Pakistan in a bilateral series Pakistan cricket had suffered a lot.

"We have lost revenue and don't have the funds to invest in our club or domestic cricket," he said.

"We are already facing hardships due to other teams not touring Pakistan due to security concerns since 2009."