KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board formally reached out to the country’s government earlier this week for it to provide the national team clearance to visit India for the upcoming ICC World Cup.

The PCB confirmed Saturday that it wrote to its patron-in-chief Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif along with two relevant government departments after the International Cricket Council (ICC) released the official schedule of the 50-over showpiece.

“Soon after the World Cup schedule was announced last Tuesday, we wrote to our Patron, Honourable Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, through the Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Ministry, copying the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Interior, requesting clearance to participate in the World Cup,” a PCB spokesperson told Dawn.

Pakistan are scheduled to play their World Cup matches at five venues; Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata. The PCB had sought the government’s advice regarding several aspects about playing at each of the said venues.

The Babar Azam-led unit, if it makes it to the semi-finals, will also not play in Mumbai, one of the venues for the last-four fixtures. The team, instead, will play the match in Kolkata after the ICC accepted the PCB’s demand to avoid Mumbai as one of Pakistan’s destinations.

“The decision to visit India and identify venues at which we should play our matches is the prerogative of the Government of Pakistan,” said the PCB spokesperson. “We have absolute trust in the judgement of our government and will follow whatever is advised.”

According to a report by the Press Trust of India news agency on Satu­rday, the Government of Pakistan is set to send a security delegation to India for inspecting the venues before giving clearance for the nati­onal team’s travel across the border.

The report added that an official source in the IPC Ministry said that the government, including the foreign and interior ministry would decide when to send the security delegation to India once the new chairman of the PCB was elected after the Eid holidays.

“The security delegation will go with representation from the PCB to inspect the venues where Pakistan will play and also the security and other arrangements made for them in the World Cup,” he said.

“Before any tour to India it is standard practice for the cricket board to seek permission from the government which normally sends a delegation to India,” the official said.

“The delegation will interact with the officials there and discuss and inspect with them the security and other arrangements for our players, officials, fans and media, who will go for the tournament.”

He said if the delegation feels it would be better for Pakistan to play at some other venue instead of a designated one, it will mention that in its report before the PCB shares it with the ICC and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The PCB spokesperson did not confirm if the government has informed the board about any decision to send a security delegation to India but said it would welcome any step former takes to conduct its due diligence.

“It is entirely up to the Government of Pakistan on the process it wants formulate and follow before advising us on the next steps,” noted the PCB official. “If this requires sending an advance team to India to inspect the venues and hold meetings with the event organisers, then it will solely be the government’s decision.”

In 2016, Pakistan government had sent a three-person delegation to India on a recce tour for the T20 World Cup, following which the ICC moved Pakistan’s match against India from Dharamsala to Kolkata due to security reasons.

Enquired if the PCB was interested in participating in the World Cup, the spokesman said: “Who doesn’t want to feature in a World Cup and give their side a chance to make history? But this is a slightly different scenario as Pakistanis every cricket tour to India — be it for a bilateral or multi-team series — requires government clearance. We’re now following the process and have been open and transparent about this in our communications to the Event Authority and Event Hosts.”

Most recently, the Pakistan government allowed the national football team to participate in the SAFF Championship in Bangalore, while the Pakistan Hockey Federation has already written for clearance to play in the Asian Champions Trophy, which is set to be held next month in Chennai.

The World Cup will be played across 10 Indian cities from October 5 to November 19.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2023