PCB claims out of form India avoiding playing Pakistan

Frustrated with the continuing deadlock over Indo-Pak cricket ties, PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf has claimed that India is not keen on a revival as the BCCI fears its out-of-form team would struggle against Pakistan.

Ashraf told Geo News in Dubai that he believed that India are nervous because of the way Pakistan was playing in the ongoing Test series against England.

"If you see, our team is doing very well and it has beaten England. The players are charged up and their morale is very high. In contrast everyone knows how the Indian team has been performing in Australia," the PCB chief said.

"I get a feeling they are avoiding playing us because Pakistan team is doing very well. What I know is that perhaps the Indian board doesn't want to play at this time because it is nervous that if their team loses against us the reaction of their people could be strong," he added.

The bilateral cricket ties between the two countries have been frozen since the Mumbai terror attacks in November, 2008.

India cancelled a scheduled FTP tour to Pakistan in early 2009 and also sidelined a series at home against Pakistan this year.

Pakistani players are also being kept out of the Indian Premier League for the third successive edition.

Ashraf said the Indian board had so far not responded to any efforts by Pakistan to resume ties.

"There has been no response on proposals. They don't want to play in India, not in Pakistan and not at neutral venues," Ashraf said.

"But the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh himself attended the World Cup semi-final in Mohali and stressed on the need to resume cricket ties between both nations," he said.

The PCB chief said while there was no denying that Pakistan would benefit a lot if it played India but he didn't want both countries to resume bilateral cricket because of financial gains.

The PCB chief also confirmed that India and England had moved the resolution at the recent ICC executive board meeting to get the post of ICC vice-president abolished.

"India and England are not in favour of having a vice president position in the ICC," he added.