New Delhi: BCCI Secretary General Rajeev Shukla Admits ICC Was Asked to Persuade Pakistan to Play the Match
New Delhi: BCCI Secretary General Rajeev Shukla has openly acknowledged that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) itself approached the International Cricket Council (ICC) and requested them to convince Pakistan to participate in the match against India.
Shukla stated: “We asked the ICC to persuade Pakistan to play the match against India. I am happy that the negotiations were successful. I commend the ICC for their successful efforts.”
It is worth noting that Indian media had consistently reported that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had directly contacted the ICC to facilitate the India-Pakistan match.
However, BCCI’s Secretary General has now contradicted and effectively debunked those earlier media claims.
Meanwhile, prominent Indian journalist Vikrant Gupta has described Pakistan’s strategy regarding the Bangladesh issue as successful.
He remarked: “Pakistan was perceived as weak and it was thought that the PCB would not be able to get its way on this matter. But now it appears that Pakistan has won on this front.”
Background: The Government of Pakistan had initially instructed the PCB to boycott the match against India in the World Cup.
Following this decision, the ICC along with several member country cricket boards urged Pakistan to reconsider its boycott stance.
Sri Lankan President personally telephoned Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif requesting that the boycott decision be reversed.
The Sri Lanka Cricket Board also wrote to the PCB, highlighting that cancellation of the match would cause financial losses to the host board in terms of ticket sales and hotel bookings, and appealed for the match to proceed.
The Emirates Cricket Board chairman similarly contacted the PCB, stating that cancelling the Pakistan-India match would damage the spirit of cricket and disappoint fans worldwide.
ICC Deputy Chairman Khawaja Imran visited Pakistan and held nearly five hours of discussions with PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi. During these talks, the PCB Chairman strongly demanded that the injustice done to Bangladesh be rectified.
Following these negotiations, the ICC not only assured that no penalty or financial sanction would be imposed on Bangladesh, but also committed to awarding Bangladesh the hosting rights of an event before the 2031 World Cup.
On the basis of the ICC’s assurances regarding Bangladesh and repeated requests from several friendly cricket boards, the Pakistani government eventually gave approval for the PCB to play the match against India.
