ICC not interfering in Indo-Pak bilateral series agreements an 'advantage': BCCI CoA

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 24 (ANI): With the International Cricket Council (ICC) staying out of the row surrounding India-Pakistan bilateral series agreements, the BCCI Committee of Administrators (CoA) chief Vinod Rai on Saturday admitted that step was an advantageous one for India. "Answer of PCB's question is very simple, if a government of a country says not to play, then it will not play bilateral series. That is a Force Majeure. A Force Majeure is a part of every contract," Rai said. Rai further said that no contract was signed between India and Pakistan, only a letter was exchanged between the two countries and that too depends upon the government of the country. "Government's decision has always been that we will play multilateral series with Pakistan, but won't play any bilateral series with them," he said. On Thursday, the ICC said it will not to interfere in modalities related to bilateral agreement involving two nations. Earlier in May, the PCB had sent a legal notice to its Indian counterpart for failing to honour the MoU signed between the two cricket boards in 2014. The PCB had also demanded compensation close to USD 60 million from the BCCI for not honouring the MoU signed when N. Srinivasan was at the helm of affairs in the Indian board. According to the 2014 agreement, India were scheduled to play six series against Pakistan , four of them were going to be Pakistan's home series, subject to clearance from the Government of India. The two Asian neighbours have not played a full bilateral series after the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008. (ANI)