KARACHI: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) representatives on Thursday turned down the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) proposal of adopting the “partnership formula” for the next three years as part of efforts of breaking the ongoing deadlock between the two parties over next year’s ICC Champions Trophy, sources have revealed.
With the BCCI having unofficially communicated to the tournament organisers International Cricket Council (ICC) last month about the Indian government’s refusal to allow the country’s cricket team to visit host Pakistan, a hybrid model was reported to have been agreed upon earlier this week.
The model, in its originality would have seen India play their Champions Trophy matches at a neutral venue, while the rest of the tournament is held in Pakistan. The PCB, however, had added a tit-for-tat condition to it; Pakistan would also play their matches at neutral venues when India host an ICC tournament in the future — it being dubbed as the “partnership formula”.
PCB initially wanted the condition to be applied until the end of the current Future Tours Programme cycle of the ICC, which culminates with the 2031 Cricket World Cup. With the BCCI disagreeing to it, its Pakistan counterpart proposed the same for the next three years.
On Thursday, just ahead of yet another scheduled ICC board meeting in Dubai to resolve the issue, PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who was in the emirate, had made an enquiry if the BCCI would agree with the latest proposition.
