Don't expect India-Pakistan cricket in near future: Shahryar Khan

File photo of former PCB chief Shahryar Khan (PTI)

Karachi: Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shahryar Khan has said he could not see bilateral series against India happening anytime soon as the political turmoil between the two countries continues.

The 83-year-old stressed that though the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was not against the series, they require its government's approval to play against Pakistan anywhere outside International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments.

In 2014, both BCCI and PCB signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that stated the two arch-rivals will play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2023.

According to the 2014 agreement, India were scheduled to play six series against Pakistan, of which four were to be Pakistan's home series.

While the BCCI has repeatedly snubbed Pakistan's request for resumption of ties, the PCB wants its Indian counterpart to honour its commitment under the MoU signed, which is subject to clearance from the Government of India.

Khan said that absence of bilateral series between India and Pakistan is solely because of political tensions and that it has nothing to do with the cricket boards of the two countries.

"The real reason behind the absence of India and Pakistan bilateral series is political and has nothing to do with either the PCB or the BCCI," the ex-PCB chief said.

"In the current political climate, I really do not see any way in the near future that both teams will be able to play each other. The fact of the matter is that we have always been willing to play India anywhere, but it's the government of India who have prevented the BCCI from playing against us and there is not much we can do about that," he was quoted as saying by pakpassion.net.

Khan also called on its Indian counterpart to try their level best to convince their government to resume the cricket relations against Pakistan.

"I know, for a fact, that BCCI tried to convince their government and explained to them that there would be loss of revenue for both India and Pakistan. However, the Government of India has stuck by its stand that unless the political climate improves; there can be no resumption of cricketing relations between both the countries. They will simply not allow it," he added.

Khan concluded by saying that he hoped things could change at some point in time, but he could not see India playing Tests or limited-overs internationals against Pakistan in the foreseeable future.

"I am hopeful for the future and hope things can change; but at this time, there is no chance of any India-Pakistan cricket contact in a bilateral context," he said.

"We will continue to play India in ICC tournaments as we did in the Champions Trophy and so on, but no Test or limited-overs series will be played between the two countries in the foreseeable future," he added.

Despite not playing a full-fledged bilateral series against Pakistan since the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, the rivarly continued at the ICC events, with the most recent coming at the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy. Pakistan, however, did tour India for a short series in December 2012.

Pakistan expected to generate a lot of revenue in these eight years by hosting India, but since BCCI denied playing the series in wake of tensions between the two countries, the PCB suffered huge financial losses.

Earlier this year, BCCI had rejected the PCB's demand for compensation for not honouring the MoU, saying that the MoU was not binding and also raised the issue of security problems in Pakistan.

In May, the PCB had sent a legal notice to its Indian counterpart for failing to honour the MoU.

Recently, the Najam Sethi-led PCB said that they would only approve the new Future Tours Programme (FTP), proposed by the International Cricket Council (ICC), once the dispute with India over resumption of bilateral series is resolved.