LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board will file the case against its Indian counterpart in January 2018 before the International Cricket Council for not honouring the MoUs signed between the two countries for resuming bilateral series, PCB chairman Najam Sethi announced here on Wednesday.

“Next week, the last meeting with the lawyers in England is scheduled to finalise the case against the BCCI after which the PCB will lodge its case before the ICC in the first week of January,” Sethi said after chairing the 47th meeting of the Board of Governors, his first as chairman, on Wednesday.

Initially, the chairman added, the PCB had allocated a budget of $1,000,000 to contest the case in the ICC and in other courts if the Board would not get a favourable decision from the game’s governing body.

“However, as now the ICC has made an amendment in the constitution about the dispute resolving committee, according to which the governing body’s decision will be final and both the parties would be bound to accept it, the total [PCB’s] legal expenses would not be more than $500,000,” he elaborated.

The chairman said ICC’s new Future Tours Programme (FTP) was also in the making under which every team would have to play against each other. “Therefore, hopefully, India would play Pakistan in Test matches, as there would be no third option for any country whether play or to concede points for refusing to play.”

He said the BCCI was in contact with the Indian government to seek its permission or guidance under the new FTP system.

“There are also some reports suggesting that the BCCI wants to seek such an FTP under which there will be no India-Pakistan Test series, unless bothqualify to play the final [against each other] under compulsion.”

Currently, Sethi acknowledged, there was a deadlock between India and Pakistan, adding “the PCB was forced to file the case against the BCCI because they had signed MoUs on resuming bilateral series in 2014”.

Meanwhile, responding to a question regarding the Pakistan Super League (PSL), the chairman said almost all the foreign players had agreed to play PSL-3 matches in Lahore. However, the PCB chief revealed, many foreign players players were not ready to go to Karachi to play the final.

“A ceremony for a fresh player draft will be held in Karachi to select new cricketers to replace those who are not willing to play [PSL final] in Karachi.”

The PCB plans to organise two 2018 PSL play-off matches in Lahore and the final in Karachi.

“Quetta Region, during the BoGs meeting, raised the objection that not a single first-class cricketer from their region was picked by any of the six PSL franchises,” noted Sethi.

“[Therefore] necessary amendments will be made in the PSL constitution to ensure each franchise includes at least one player of that region in the emerging players category,” he added.

Sethi further said a four-member audit committee -- headed by Arif Ijaz -- for the PCB and the PSL had been constituted. “The audit committee will submit its report in January. The audit of the first PSL has been approved while the audit of the second edition was in final stages.”

Commenting on revamp of major cricket venues in the country, the PCB chairman said the renovation of Karachi’s National Stadium on a short-term plan had started, adding “it will be completed in February to host the 2018 PSL final”.

Moreover, he said, the BoG had also granted permission for building far-end at the Pindi Cricket Stadium to accommodate sponsors and media.

To a question, the chairman said though the PSL-3 schedule had been finalised but added that it might change as a result of PCB’s fresh negotiations with Dubai and Abu Dhabi cricket authorities, who wanted more PSL matches, but in return the PCB also wanted them to reduce their rates.

On whether any amendment had been made in the PCB constitution, Sethi smiled and said though it was on the agenda of the media but not in his own agenda.

About women’s cricket, the chairman said after a long time national women’s team performed better against New Zealand in the limited-overs staged in Sharjah earlier this month. Pakistan managed to win one match of the three-match ODI series — their first-ever against New Zealand — while losing all the four T20 games.

“Some changes have been made in the women [cricket] set-up and more will be introduced in future. In another development, Shahid Aslam, assistant manager of national women’s team, has been switched to the women department as senior general manager,” Sethi said.

“An advertisement has been given to hire the services of a general manager,” he said. “Three or four academies for women will be established in the country.”

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2017