ICC, BCB officials meet Naqvi in ​​Lahore: ICC sent envoy to Pakistan… Meeting for hours in the stadium, blueprint of India-Pakistan match ready

Karachi. Pakistan Cricket Board chief Mohsin Naqvi met Bangladesh Cricket Board President Aminul Islam and ICC Vice President Imran Khawaja on Sunday in Lahore. After this, the ongoing talks on Pakistan’s proposed boycott of the T20 World Cup match against India have intensified. This meeting took place at Gaddafi Stadium and PCB has released its pictures. Khawaja has come to Lahore for talks with PCB officials and there are indications that the dispute regarding the match between India and Pakistan in Colombo on February 15 can be resolved, due to which the match is expected to take place.

Khawaja, who represents Singapore at the ICC, is an influential figure and has voting rights on the board as an Associate Member Director. A source close to the PCB has said that the ICC Board has selected Khawaja as the arbitrator on this dispute. The source said, ‘He (Khwaja) has been in talks with Mohsin Naqvi for some time now and has reached Lahore today to talk to the PCB chief and BCB President Aminul Islam before the evening virtual meeting.’

Aminul is already in Lahore and his presence is necessary because the dispute between PCB and ICC started when Scotland was included in the T20 World Cup instead of Bangladesh. Bangladesh had refused to play in India due to security reasons. Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif had recently said that Pakistan has taken the decision of not playing against India to show solidarity with Bangladesh.

Naqvi has not said much on the government’s instructions on boycotting the India match, but according to a reliable source, the situation has changed after Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) sent an email to the PCB. In this email they have been appealed to end the boycott. ICC CEO Sanjog Gupta has also gone to Colombo to meet SLC President Shammi Silva, who had sent an email to Naqvi asking him to play the match against India. The ICC has already sought clarification from Pakistan as to how the ‘Force Majeure’ rule can be used. Through this rule, Pakistan wanted to justify the team’s refusal to play the T20 World Cup match against India, because the PCB had tried to avoid the situation by putting the responsibility on its government.

But now a ray of hope is visible because PCB has approached ICC for talks. An ICC director has said that he feels that this big match will happen eventually. The ICC is currently in talks with the Board to find a possible solution so that the interests of the game prevail over any unilateral decision. The SLC has warned the PCB to rethink its decision, citing huge financial loss for all stakeholders. The main reason for Bangladesh’s withdrawal was the release of their fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman from the Kolkata Knight Riders team on the instructions of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).