PCB chairman hopeful of holding positive talks with BCCI in Dubai

Karachi
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja is hopeful of holding positive talks with his counterpart in the BCCI on the sidelines of the ICC meetings in Dubai from April 7 to 10.
Ramiz and PCB’s chief executive Faisal Hasnain left for Dubai on Wednesday night, aiming to push for a discussion on the proposal to hold a four-nation T20 tournament every year featuring India, Pakistan, England and Australia.
While Australia has responded positively to Ramiz’s proposal, he is awaiting a response from India and England.
”The coming meetings are important because Ramiz is planning to meet with the BCCI officials on the sidelines of the ICC meetings and discuss matters of mutual interest including the four-nation proposal, the Asia Cup and other matters,” a source in the PCB said.
Ramiz said in a recent interview that he felt it was unfair to keep fans away from India-Pakistan contests. ”India-Pakistan (2022 T20 World Cup) tickets were sold in one day, we don’t have a political perspective on things and if a fellow cricketer is leading the BCCI, we should be approachable to each other since we don’t know politics.” He would also talk to BCCI chief Saurav Ganguly on Indo-Pakistan cricket and the proposed four-nation event. ”I’ll talk to Ganguly regarding a four-nation tournament. The future of cricket is in triangular and four-nation competitions. Twenty20 leagues are taking away eyeballs from bilateral cricket, of which the novelty factor is decreasing.” The source said that Ramiz will share a special report with the ICC executive board on hosting the Pakistan-Australia series which concluded on Tuesday in Lahore.
”Ramiz is confident that after the successful hosting of the Pakistan Super League and the series against Australia he will face no problems convincing the other member boards to schedule bilateral series against Pakistan with emphasis on three-test series in the 2024-25 calendar,” the source said. He said Pakistan had kept a window open in their FTP for a bilateral series against India in 2024-25. ”The PCB chairman will also hold meetings with various heads of the respective boards to improve relations and create future opportunities for Pakistan cricket,” the source said.
The source said that Ramiz was not very hopeful that the four-nation T20 tournament proposal would be accepted at the meeting but he is confident it will at least start a discussion on the proposal.