LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board interim management committee chairman Najam Sethi on Monday said that the government will take a final decision on whether the national team travels to India for this year’s World Cup.

Sethi reiterated that the PCB will deal on a reciprocal basis with the Board of Cricket Control in India, which has said that it will not send its team to Pakistan to feature in the Asia Cup ahead of the World Cup.

Pakistan is also due to host the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025 and clarity on what happens is due to come during meetings of the International Cricket Council and the Asian Cricket Council in the United Arab Emirates on March 20.

“Our stance is that if the BCCI continues to take a stand against Pakistan, we will think about visiting India,” Sethi told reporters at a news conference. “It is an unsolved matter. We have to speak with the ACC and ICC and take a position. I have asked for the government’s stance in this regard.

“India says that there are security issues in Pakistan whilst teams from the entire world have no issues with it. If I says that we also have security threats in India due to communal environment there, it carries weight. It’s a complex issue and we have to keep in front the input of the government and our security agencies.”

Answering a question regarding the resumption of departmental cricket, Sethi informed that by the end of March, the representatives of the regional bodies and departments would have been elected to form the Board of Governors.

He said some departments had responded for the re-affiliation to the PCB and the first four departments, who would decide to restore their teams, would be included in the BoG.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2023