DUBAI: International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive David Richardson said on Monday that the cricket boards of India and Pakistan should resolve their issues on a bilateral basis, ANI reported.

The comment came in the backdrop of a case filed by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) against Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for not playing any bilateral cricket with them despite signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which guarantees six bilateral series between 2015 and 2023.

The Indian board, however, have claimed that the MoU is not binding on them as PCB did not adhere to some of the clauses mentioned in the document.

The hearing in the matter is scheduled to be held at the ICC Headquarters in Dubai from October 1 to October 3.

The lawyers’ on PCB panel are Khwaja Ahmad Hossain, Advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan, Alexandros Panayides and LMA Ebrahim Hosain of Clifford Chance, London and PCB GM legal affairs Salman Naseer.

The ICC dispute panel comprises of Michael Beloff (chairperson), Jan Paulsson and Annabelle Bennett.

Speaking during a media day event at the ICC headquarters, Richardson said, “We obviously don’t enjoy the fact that two country boards are in dispute between each other. It is a matter between India and Pakistan. We would like the resumption of ties between the two nations on a bilateral basis.”

According to ANI, Richardson further stated that they are always up for facilitating any settlement if required.

“We will facilitate any settlement decision if we can. Other than that, it is up to the two nations,” he added.

Reflecting on cricket’s Olympics prospects, Richardson said the ICC would love to have the game in the prestigious multi-sport event but for that to happen all the boards should be on the same track.

“I would also like to be in 2028 Olympics but we have no chance of that unless we are united as a sport,” Richardson said.

Expressing his views on how to tackle the decreasing popularity of Test cricket, Richardson said that the first step in that direction would be to improve the marketing of the format.

“We need to improve the marketing of the Test matches. Creating the context and meaning for test cricket is the first step,” he said. “Clever scheduling, early scheduling — there is myriad of different things that we can do.”

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2018