While the window for the eight-team ODI tournament has been scheduled between February 19 and March, the ICC has also not formally announced the dates and schedule. Normally, for a global tournament, the ICC has in the past announced the schedule 100 days before the event.
The reason for the delay is the Indian government’s refusal to grant Rohit Sharma’s team permission to travel to Pakistan. That decision was communicated to the ICC fifteen days ago. The PCB, which was awarded hosting rights for the Champions Trophy in 2021, subsequently wrote to the ICC raising several questions about the exact reasons the BCCI had given and when they informed the ICC. According to a PCB official, they have not received a response from the ICC till date.
PCB president Mohsin Naqvi has been adamant about organizing the entire tournament in Pakistan, in three venues: Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi. Last week he said he would be open to a dialogue with the BCCI to break the deadlock. An ICC spokesperson confirmed Friday’s meeting, but the PCB has not made any comment so far.
The ICC Board is made up of representatives of the 12 full member countries, three Associate representatives, an independent director together with the president and the chief executive of ICC. The meeting comes just at the end of the term of the current ICC president, Greg Barclay. This will be the last meeting of the board of directors he presides before he is replaced on Sunday (December 1) by Jay Shah, BCCI secretary and key figure in the Champions Trophy matter.
Naqvi, the chairman of the PCB, is also a key figure in Pakistan’s government, as interior minister. For the past few days it has been preoccupied in Islamabad in an effort to quell political protests by the PTI, the party of former prime minister (and captain) Imran Khan.
Additional reporting by Osman Samiuddin
