BCCI officially invited Pakistan to play in India: Shaharyar

“Shashank Manohar called me up on Friday evening and told me they have got clearance from their government to play against us. But he said they wanted to play the series in India and not in the UAE,” Shaharyar said. “Manohar also said that the Indian board would provide the best security to our team and schedule the matches in places like Mohali and Kolkata where there is no problem at playing a Indo-Pak match.”

“Thirdly he said that the Indian board would devise a formula to ensure that we don’t suffer any loss of revenues for playing our home series in India,” he added.

The PCB chief, however, said he had informed Manohar that Pakistan would prefer to play the series in UAE as per the MOU signed with BCCI. “Why should we play our home series in India and not in UAE which is stated in the MOU, and there is the matter of security for our team and plus the nearly $50 million that we expect to earn from hosting the series,” he said.

“I told Manohar how can we play in India when there is so much anti-Pakistan sentiments there by some of their groups. We have played our last two series in India and I think it is time we now got to host the series,” Shaharyar said.

The PCB chief also said he was not authorised to take a decision on Manohar’s offer and he would consult the board of governors when they meet on November 17. “But more importantly I have to first also seek clearance from the Prime Minister for any decision we take. At the moment I have told the Indian cricket chief to send us a detailed proposal in writing,” he said.

Manohar, the BCCI chief, however told PTI that the Indian cricket board have not approached the government yet for clearance and any statement to this effect was not correct.”It’s an incorrect statement. We have not yet approached the government. Yes, I have talked to him over phone and we may talk again in the next couple of days,” he said.