The cricket heads of Pakistan and India had what was said to be a “fruitful” meeting on Sunday at the headquarters of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in Dubai.
But the results of the much-anticipated meeting, and the fate of the first series between the two sides in three years and the first to be “hosted” by Pakistan in nearly a decade, will only be clear on Monday.
One official, not present at the meeting but an important stakeholder, said there had been positive developments. One strong possibility now is that the two sides play a series in Sri Lanka, consisting three ODIs and two Twenty20s.
That would be a compromise that please both sides as it allows India to not play in the UAE, as the BCCI has wanted, and allows Pakistan to not tour India.
Shaharyar Khan, head of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), and Shashank Manohar his counterpart at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), had an hour-long meeting on Sunday afternoon at the ICC offices.
Giles Clarke, who is the president of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), acted as the facilitator for the discussions, and it is Clarke now who will provide more details on Monday of the outcome of the meeting.
As well as being a senior ICC figure, Clarke is the head of the ICC’s Pakistan Task Team, a body set up first in 2009 to help Pakistan through the impact of not playing at home and revived at the ICC’s AGM this year in June.
READ MORE
The sporting read: An insight into the mind of Pakistan’s great captain Misbah-ul-Haq
Answers on UAE’s viability as venue for Pakistan-India only lead to conjecture
Part of the original remit was to find a way to restart cricketing ties between the two countries, which have been effectively been on hold since the Mumbai terror attacks.
“The outcome was that we had a fruitful meeting between the three sides,” Shaharyar told The National. “Giles Clarke will give detailed briefings tomorrow. We cannot comment any further.”
The meeting actually began with just Clarke and Shaharyar. Manohar joined them a little later.
Najam Sethi, another senior PCB official, was also present. Manohar is ostensibly in Dubai in his capacity as the new chairman of the ICC but sat in the meeting in his position as the head of the BCCI.
The memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between the two boards last year in May stipulates that this series, the first of six in eight years between the two, is a home series for Pakistan.
According to the MOU, it is to be played in the UAE, or at a “mutually agreed venue”.
But the BCCI prevaricated initially over whether or not they will play the series in the first place. Now, over the past couple of weeks, they have insisted that the series should be held in India.
They have not stated any reasons as to why they do not want to play in the UAE. The PCB, which has hosted most major full members in the UAE over the past five years, has refused the invitation to take the series to India.
On Saturday, Shaharyar told The National that any decision will now be taken by the Pakistan government. Going to India has been ruled out, but at least until before the meeting, the door was not shut on another neutral venue. As well as Sri Lanka Bangladesh has also been mentioned, though at the moment that could be politically tricky for Pakistan.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
