Will reject playing 'home' series in India, says PCB executive committee chief

Najam Sethi said that he would recommend Pakistan cricket team not be sent to India.

Lahore: Calling on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to honour its agreement to allow India and Pakistan to play five one-day and two Twenty20 internationals in Pakistan or the UAE, the chairman of the executive committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Najam Sethi, said on Friday that he would recommend that the Pakistan cricket team not be sent to India for the proposed series in December.

"We visited India in 2007 and 2012 and we did not get a single penny for it. It's now time for the BCCI to reciprocate and honour its commitment of playing a bilateral series in UAE," Sethi told reporters in Lahore on Friday.

On Tuesday, BCCI president Shashank Manohar proposed a limited-over series with Pakistan, but clearly stated that the Indian team would not be travelling to Pakistan or the UAE for the matches.

"We are committed to playing Pakistan in December. However, since it's not possible to play them in Pakistan or the UAE, we have to look at playing the series in Northern India in December," Manohar had said.

The suggestion agitated Sethi and the former PCB chairman said he would advise the board not to heed this 'unreasonable demand' of the BCCI.

"If we get a formal proposal suggesting that the series be played in India, I would categorically reject it and advise the board of governors to not accept any such offers," Sethi, who was the chairman of the PCB when an agreement on bilateral series was signed between Pakistan and India, said.

India and Pakistan have signed an agreement to play a total of six series - four hosted by Pakistan and the other two by India - on the sidelines of an International Cricket Council (ICC) annual conference in Melbourne last year.

According to the deal the first series of was scheduled to be hosted by Pakistan in UAE this December but prospects look bleak after political tensions between the two countries.

Sethi had then claimed that Pakistan would earn 450 million dollars in the next eight years, mainly from hosting four series to be played with arch-rivals India.