Lahore: Pakistan Cricket Board chief Mohsin Naqvi on Monday said a final decision on whether his country will boycott the T20 World Cup match against India will be clear in the next 24 hours, acknowledging hectic parleys with the ICC also involving his Bangladesh counterpart Aminul Islam Bulbul.
Addressing a press conference here, Naqvi also said that the PCB is waiting for a response from the ICC and the Bangladesh Cricket Board on certain issues that it has brought up. The game against India is scheduled to be held in Colombo on February 15.
“We have had discussions with them. It would not be right for me to make any comments right now. Once we get their response, we will decide. We will go back to the PM (Shehbaz Sharif) for advice once the ICC replies,” Naqvi told reporters.
“An announcement will come tomorrow or day after tomorrow,” he said.
“We respect our guests and ICC came to our house so we respected them. At this point of time, we cannot say much as negotiations between the ICC and Bangladesh are ongoing. Bangladesh’s stance was valid so we had to back them,” he added.
Bangladesh have been ousted from the tournament for refusing to play in India citing security concerns.
Naqvi also brushed aside suggestions that the PCB is under pressure due to ICC’s warning of action.
“You know we are not ones to be afraid of these threats at all. Everyone knows our Field Marshall (Asim Munir). We are not worried about any sanctions,” he said.
According to reliable sources in the PCB, Naqvi will brief Sharif and request him to withdraw the boycott call after being persuaded to do so by his Bangladesh counterpart.
It is understood that during his meeting with ICC deputy chair Imran Khawaja on Sunday, Naqvi had kept a few demands, including resumption of Indo-Pak bilateral cricket and a tri-series involving Bangladesh, to offset the losses that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has incurred following their shocking ouster from the global event.
While Indo-Pak bilateral cricket isn’t ICC’s purview, the demand for a tri-series was summarily rejected. India haven’t played any tri-nation tournament for more than a decade now. However, the ICC might consider awarding the next men’s U19 World Cup to Bangladesh.
The source said that during talks with Khawaja, Naqvi had raised a number of grievances.
“He questioned Khwaja if the ICC had kept quiet if the Pakistan team had refused to accept the Asia Cup trophy at the presentation from any Indian board official,” the source said.
The Asia Cup trophy lies locked at the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) headquarters in Dubai after Naqvi, who currently heads the body, made it clear that only he would carry out the presentation formalities in full media glare.–(PTI)
