BCCI raps 'Envious' PCB over its sham PoK League; reminds Gibbs of his match-fixing case

The BCCI has sent the PCB and Herschelle Gibbs to the cleaners for their statements regarding Pakistan's sham Cricket league plan for PoK. The PCB in an official release had accused the BCCI of calling multiple ICC Members and forcing them to withdraw their retired cricketers from the Kashmir Premier League (KPL) and also warned the Indian Cricket Board to remain in its rights, else it will complain to the ICC. Now, the BCCI has broken its silence and told PCB in no uncertain terms that it has no business planning anything in Indian territories, and has also been unsparing on Herschelle Gibbs, raising his past match-fixing controversy.

'PCB is confused, they should not envy', says BCCI Official

Speaking to ANI, a BCCI official stated that the PCB must understand that the Indian Cricket Board is well within its rights even if Gibbs' statement accusing it of attempting to threaten him is considered true.

"While one can neither confirm or deny the veracity of the statement made by a former player who has figured in a CBI investigation into match-fixing earlier, the PCB must understand that even if Gibbs' statement is assumed to be true, the BCCI would be well within their rights to take decisions with respect to the cricketing ecosystem in India. The fact that the Indian cricketing ecosystem is the most sought after for cricketing opportunities globally, should not be envied by the PCB," a BCCI official told ANI.

"PCB is coming across as confused. Just the way the decision to not allow players of Pakistani origin to participate in the IPL cannot be construed as interfering in the internal affairs of an ICC member, the decision, if any, to allow or disallow anyone from participating in any manner with cricket within India is purely an internal matter of the BCCI," the official added.

PCB welcome to raise the matter to ICC: BCCI Official

The official also said that the PCB can take up the matter with the ICC, but in the end, everyone knows why the Pakistan board is behaving this way, and what is motivating their actions.

"They are welcome to raise the matter at the ICC and one can understand where this is coming from but the question that they need to ask themselves is whether it is on account of government interference in their working since the PM of Pakistan is officially their Patron as per their own constitution. It is time to consider whether this issue also ought to be raised at the ICC," said the official.

PCB's positioning is always bemusing: BCCI Official

The BCCI official added, "The PCB would do well to peruse the ICC's classification of official cricket. In the eventuality that a retired player is participating as a player in a tournament, it would not quite be official cricket and any permission granted would be moot. I am not really sure how they are reading this to mean what they are intending it to mean, but then the PCB's positioning is always bemusing. They should allow cricket to entertain rather than their decision making."

Pak's 'Kashmir Premier League' sham

Pakistan's sham 'Kashmir Premier League', the first edition of which will be played between five teams representing cities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and one team representing "overseas" Kashmiris, was announced in December 2020. Shahid Afridi has been named the captain of Rawalakot Hawks, confirming the league's geopolitical mischief quotient. The other teams in the franchise tournament will be represented by international Pakistani cricketers such as Shoaib Malik, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Muhammad Hafeez, and Fakhar Zaman. All matches in the competition are scheduled to be played between August 6 and August 16 in Muzaffarabad Stadium in PoK, while other former international players like Tillakaratne Dilshan and Monty Panesar have also been roped in.

(Image Credits: @HERSHYBRU/@KarachiKingsARY/Twitter/AP)

(Story Inputs: ANI)