LAHORE: The outgoing chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Shaharyar Khan has said they have started a legal battle with their Indian counterparts at the ICC dispute resolving committee for failing to honour memorandums of understanding (MoU) signed between them in 2014 for bilateral series.

He disclosed this at a press conference after presiding over his last meeting of the Board of Governors (BoGs) here on Friday.

PCB Executive Committee chairman Najam Sethi, who was also present on the occasion, said the BoGs had also allocated Rs one billion to bear expenses of the legal fight for which qualified British lawyers had been hired.

Shaharyar said the PCB was left with no choice but to move the dispute resolving committee after failing to convince the BCCI to honour the memorandums of understanding.

The PCB had already sent a legal notice of US$69 million to the BCCI, claiming damages it had suffered for not hosting India since 2014.

Shaharyar said it was his last meeting as the PCB chairman and he was happy that during this three-year tenure Pakistan won the ICC Champions Trophy, for which the credit went to coaches and players, especially Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan.

He also praised Sarfraz Ahmad as the new captain, under whom Pakistan won the Champions Trophy for the first time.

The chairman said domestic cricket of the country was not too appalling as it had been portrayed and some of their coaches were qualified and very good.

However, he lamented performance of the Pakistan women team at the ICC World Cup.

He said the country was not producing women cricketers and most of the players who represented the country in the mega event had been part of the national team since last eight years.

The outgoing PCB chief said the ICC XI was ready to play in Pakistan but ICC Task Force head Giles Clarke had shown some reservations on sending the team to Pakistan as the government of Punjab had yet not given the green signal for the visit.

He said the World XI could visit Lahore from Sept 12 if the provincial government gave security clearance.

Shaharyar further said their relations with Bangladesh and Afghanistan cricket boards were not exemplary.

He added that the chairman of the Afghanistan cricket board felt sorry for giving a harsh statement against the PCB in the backdrop of a bomb blast in Kabul and a public apology was needed from him in that regard.

“We will not send our team to Bangladesh for the third consecutive time until they visit Pakistan to play some matches.”

Highlighting some other developments of his three-year tenure, Shaharyar said the end of the Big Three formula was one of them and it would also generate more funds for the PCB.

He said the PCB’s biomechanics laboratory was the seventh lab affiliated with the ICC which will start working from next month.

The chairman said the ongoing proceedings of the Anti-corruption Tribunal against some cricketers in the spot-fixing case would conclude next month.

He thanked all members of the BoGs for extending cooperation and contributing in taking major decisions during his term.

He said the PCB was still receiving congratulatory messages from around the world for winning the Champions Trophy.

Meanwhile, Sethi, who avoided questions about his chances as the next PCB chairman, said the election commissioner had started work and he would announce the schedule of elections for the chairman in the next couple of days.

“I organised the PSL final in Lahore successfully and want media’s support to bring improvement in our cricket,” he said.

Sethi added that PCB’s income increased due to the PSL.

He said Rs one billion had been allocated for renovation of National Stadium in Karachi and Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore besides setting up of academies.

“The BoGs had also given approval for inducting new regions into it, namely Lahore, Fata, Sialkot and Quetta, in place of Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar and Rawalpindi.

“Two new departments — Habib Bank Limited and SSGC — will also come on the BoGs in addition to two already existing ones — United Bank Limited and Wapda.”

An outgoing member of the BoGs, Shakil Sheikh, who was also head of the Cricket Development Committee, said stipend of regional cricketers and salaries of regional coaches, trainers and physio had been increased.

He said 12 well-renovated grounds would be available for domestic matches by end of August.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2017