Ready to resume cricket with India, but not in India: Najam Sethi
Najam Sethi, head of PCB Executive Committee, made it clear that Pakistan will not tour India for any bilateral series until the BCCI agrees to play a “home” series.
“We are ready to resume bilateral cricket ties with them but either in Pakistan or any other venue, not in India. We want a full “home” series so that we recoup our financial losses which we have faced over the years due to India not playing us,” Sethi, who headed the successful Pakistan Super League in the UAE, told reporters.
The Pakistan government on Thursday allowed its cricket team to participate in next month’s World Twenty20 in India.
“We want regular cricket ties with India because we believe this will only help improve overall bilateral relations between the two countries.
“Our government has also constantly shown this same spirit as is evident. But India owes us two “home” series and we want them to first fulfill this obligation to us,” said Sethi.
India has not played Pakistan’s home series since 2007 after the Mumbai terror attacks, and concerted efforts by the PCB to revive bilateral ties with India last December also failed after the BCCI said it had not got government clearance to play a bilateral series.
Sethi said while Pakistan was in a position to host India in Karachi or Lahore as the provincial governments and security forces had promised full security for international matches, but they would have to be cautious.
“We ourselves are being patient on hosting international teams and not pushing anyone as our Prime Minister wants us to be cautious. Any small incident would put our cricket back by 10 years. But we want to have the opening match and final of the second edition of the PSL in Pakistan for sure,” Sethi said.
