New Delhi: The stand-off over the February 15 T20 World Cup match between Pakistan and India is close to getting resolved, with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) likely to demand an increase in the annual funding from the International Cricket Council (ICC), as per reports.
On Sunday, Pakistan government announced that its national cricket team would not play the T20 World Cup group-stage match against India at Colombo’s R.Premadasa Stadium February 15. The decision could reportedly cost world cricket more than 250 million dollars.
The PCB, however, is having backdoor talks with the ICC with Singapore Cricket Association’s Imran Khawaj and Oman’s Pankaj Khimji as mediators. As per the Telecom Asia Sport (www telecomasia.net) report, a source close to the development said that a solution is now in sight for the T20 World Cup’s highest revenue-generating match to go ahead.
“Pakistan’s strong stance has put them in a good position to bargain for a few things which have been the Pakistan Cricket Board’s demands for several years now. The opinion of various cricket administrators in the past has been that since Pakistan is a vital cog in the highest money-generating match, they should get more funding,” sources told www.telecomasia.net.
According to the report, Pakistan gets 34.5 million dollars from the annual ICC pool, which is fourth behind India, England and Australia.
The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has also taken on the task of convincing Pakistan to change their stance because, as the co-hosts, they stand to lose big money in foreign exchange with a large number of Indian fans travelling to Colombo and in gate money for the match, the report said.
“Other than the revenue increase, Pakistan is also trying to convince the ICC to mediate with the Board of Control for Cricket to resume bilateral ties, which will be tough to revive as not playinga full series is a decision by the government, and the BCCI has no say in that.
“Unless and until New Delhi clears the ties, there are no chances of the bilateral series being revived,” the source was quoted in the report. “Pakistan is also likely to convey that Indian players should stick to the ethical demands of the game and must shake hands with Pakistan players to keep the spirit of the game, which ICC has always stressed upon.”
The PCB has informed the mediators that it will persuade the Pakistani government if their demands are accepted.
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