New Delhi: The BCCI on Tuesday said it will approach the ICC’s Dispute Resolution Committee to recover the legal cost from the Pakistan Cricket Board after the sport’s world governing body rejected Pakistan’s compensation claim against India for not playing bilateral series.
The ICC’s dispute panel dismissed Pakistan’s compensation claim against India for allegedly failing to honour a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on bilateral series.
“After hearing the evidence and arguments of the parties over three days in Dubai, the Dispute Panel has rejected all of the PCB’s contentions and accepted the BCCI’s case inter alia on the ground that the BCCI Letter was non-binding and merely expressed an intention to play,” said the BCCI in a statement. “The BCCI wholeheartedly welcomes the decision of the Dispute Panel. The BCCI will now move the Dispute Panel to recover its legal cost from the PCB,” it added.
The PCB had demanded Rs 447 crore compensation after alleging that the BCCI didn’t honour the MoU that required India to play six bilateral series between 2015 to 2023.
The BCCI, on its part, maintained that the alleged MoU was not binding and did not stand as Pakistan failed to honour a commitment to support the revenue model suggested by India for the ICC.
The Indian Board also said that bilateral cricket with Pakistan was subject to government clearance, which has not been forthcoming since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. “We are happy that our stand has been vindicated. What PCB termed as Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was just a proposal letter,” CoA chief Vinod Rai said.
“I would like to thank the BCCI legal team as well as everyone who worked on this arbitration,” Rai said.
The PCB reacted with disappointment and said it would weigh its options after going through the judgement. “The PCB notes with regret the decision of the Disputes Resolution Committee,” their statement said.
