ISLAMABAD: India has forfeited three matches of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s Championship for failing to play scheduled fixtures against Pakistan amid ongoing political tension between the South Asian rivals. Cricketing ties between the nuclear neighbours are currently stalled, and the men’s teams have not played a bilateral series since Pakistan toured India at the end of 2012. They have, however, played against each other in various tournaments including the 50-overs World Cup, World T20, Champions Trophy and Asia Cup.

Pakistan was due to host India for this series, and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said it was open to holding the series in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). But the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) had not responded to the PCB’s queries on the series since May with either a confirmation or rejection, and in mid-October a BCCI official said it was up to the Indian government to decide on whether the series would go ahead.

The ICC technical committee on Wednesday awarded Pakistan two points for each of the three unplayed matches, which were to be hosted by Pakistan and should have taken place between August 1 and October 31. The ICC said that it had considered written submissions from the BCCI and PCB before making its decision. “The technical committee was sensitive to the current state of relations between the nations of India and Pakistan, but concluded that the BCCI had not been able to establish ‘acceptable reasons’ for not participating in this series,” the ICC said in a statement.

The decision means India will miss out on automatic qualification for the 2017 World Cup in England. The associated points – two points for each match – will be awarded to Pakistan, and India will be considered to have scored 0 runs in each of the 50 overs in each match. The decision will have no effect on ICC Women’s Championship Points Table, and the Pakistan women remain at 7th place, whereas the Indian women remain at 5th place.

Eight teams are part of the ICC Women’s Championship; the top four gain automatic entry into the 2017 Women’s World Cup in England. The bottom four will have to qualify via a ten-team qualification tournament in Colombo in February 2017. A series win against Pakistan would have helped India earn a direct entry to the tournament. That meant West Indies, who weren’t assured of a direct entry after being whitewashed by India in the recently-concluded ODI series, will join Australia, England and New Zealand as the automatic qualifiers for the World Cup. Even with the six points, Pakistan are at seventh spot. They and India will be joined by South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Thailand and Zimbabwe in the qualifying tournament. India and Pakistan, who last played each other at the Women’s World T20 earlier this year, are scheduled to play the Asia Cup in Thailand between November 25 and December 5.

PCB welcomes decision: Meanwhile, the PCB has welcomed the decision made by ICC’s technical committee for awarding 6 points to Pakistan women’s cricket team after the Indian team were deemed to have forfeited each of their matches due to be played against Pakistan in Round-6 of the ICC Women’s Championship. PCB chief Shaharyar Khan said: “The board accepts the decision of the ICC’s technical committee which has vindicated the PCB stance on Pakistan-India cricket series. It is unfortunate that despite our sincere efforts we have not been able to play with India in the ICC Women’s Championship. The ultimate loss of Pakistan-India series is to cricket.”