ICC Hearing: Order reserved after ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar deposes on final day

Courtesy: Reuters

Former BCCI president and current ICC chairman Shashank Manohar's "strong" deposition marked the end of the three-day Dispute Resolution Forum hearing into PCB's compensation claims against India, a Board official said on Wednesday.

It is learnt that the three-member committee has kept its orders reserved as there have only been oral submissions from both parties.

"Now there will be written submissions and after that, the panel will write the order," a senior BCCI official told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

The Pakistan Cricket Board claimed Rs 447 crore compensation following allegations that the BCCI didn't honour a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that required India to play six bilateral series between 2015 to 2023.

"We are very happy with how the cross-examinations went. Today Manohar's deposition was very strong. He deposed as India's witness, not as an ICC chairman. Even the other witnesses put up a strong case," the official said.

Former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid was cross-examined, during which he justified India's refusal to play bilateral cricket with Pakistan. Khurshid, the external affairs minister during the UPA-II government which finished its term in 2014, was presented by the BCCI as one of its prime defence witnesses on the second day of the hearing that began on Monday.

Manohar, himself a lawyer, was the BCCI president when erstwhile PCB chairman Shahryar Khan had visited India to meet him in order to convince the BCCI for a bilateral series at neutral venues.

"Manohar is very well versed with how the e-mail signed by Sanjay Patel is not binding. He is well aware of the contractual obligations in bipartite agreements," the official said.