LAHORE: Incessant turns and twists in the impasse between Pakistan and India over their bilateral cricket series are yet to end with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) now receiving a regret letter from the Indian board over the cancellation of their scheduled meeting in Mumbai.

Expressing sincere regrets over the cancellation of the meeting scheduled for Oct 19 in Mumbai, the BCCI in its letter however has failed to set any new date either for any fresh meeting with PCB officials or for conveying Indian government’s final decision regarding the bilateral series.

PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan, through a press release, confirmed that he has received the letter from BCCI president Shashank Manohar regretting the cancellation of their meeting in Mumbai. “Mr Manohar has expressed his sincere regrets over the cancellation of the meeting between officials from the two boards,” the PCB press release issued on Thursday stated.

“Under pressure from extremist elements, the BCCI cancelled its meeting with PCB officials which was scheduled to take place in Mumbai. It has also been conveyed that the BCCI has officially approached the Indian government to obtain definitive guidance on the Pakistan-India series,” said the press release.

“The PCB maintains that sports and politics should not be mixed, and hopes that the BCCI will not be held hostage by extremist elements who wish to sabotage bilateral cricket relations. The series, scheduled to be held in the UAE at the end of this year, is a part of an MoU signed between the PCB and the BCCI,” it further said.

Apparently, the BCCI seems to be in a quandary since it is bound to oblige the PCB over the return series, having signed the MoU in this regard early last year. But on the other hand the Indian board is also fearing the wrath of the Hindu extremist groups if it goes ahead with its commitment with the PCB.

Well-placed sources told Dawn on Thursday that the BCCI abruptly cancelled the Mumbai meeting with PCB chairman last week following severe threats from Hindu extremist group Shiv Sena to disrupt the last ODI between India and South Africa (which was played on Oct 25) if the Indian board negotiated any bilateral series with Pakistan.

The sources claimed that it were, in fact, these threats from Shiv Sena that forced Shashank Manohar to steer clear of the PCB delegation in Mumbai and kept him from rescheduling the cancelled meeting at a later date.

The Shaharyar-led PCB delegation, the sources disclosed, had also indirectly come to know in Mumbai that no message from the BCCI is likely to come for a meeting until the time the last ODI between India and South Africa is played.

Although there is no fresh date for a meeting mentioned in the BCCI letter received by PCB, Shaharyar is still quite desperate as well as hopeful in this regard, stating that the PCB would wait until the end of October for a BCCI confirmation on the meeting. However, he did convey that beyond that deadline, it might become difficult for the PCB to make any arrangements for such a high-profile series.

It seems that the BCCI is yet to take any notice of PCB’s problems as it still prefers to keep mum on the issue. The sources claimed that the PCB should not expect any reply from the Indian government till the end of Bihar elections in India which would be in progress from Oct 12 to Nov 5.

Furthermore, the PCB chief during his brief chat with reporters on Thursday said that the chances of Pakistan-India series were slim and he now wanted to move forward.

Shaharyar further said that he had requested Test captain Misbah­-ul-Haq to withdraw his decision to announce retirement from all formats of the game at the end of the three-match Test series against England.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2015

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