Pakistan series deadlock is piquant for Shashank Manohar

Resumption of Indo-Pak cricket seems to be stuck in a cleft stick; going neither forward nor backward. With Indian cricket authorities saying they won’t travel to UAE, and Pakistan are unwilling to come to India things have reached a troublesome deadlock that only astute cricketing diplomacy can resolve.

This is what Shashank Manohar should be attempting on his current visit to the ICC’s headquarters in Dubai where he is likely to meet Pakistan Cricket Board chief Shahryar Khan. With both sides taking recalcitrant positions, it will require all of Manohar’s persuasive skills to break the impasse.

The situation is particularly piquant for Manohar. Not only is he the BCCI president, but also recently assumed position as the ICC chairman. So, while India’s interests and arguments are paramount when he wears the BCCI president’s hat, he also has to ensure that he does not forsake Pakistan’s interest when he wears the other hat.

To get a clearer understanding, let’s look at the background to this imbroglio. The last bilateral Test series between the two countries was in 2007 when Pakistan toured India. Thereafter, in 2013, Pakistan again came for a short 3 ODIs, two T20 matches tour. By convention, it would be India’s turn to tour Pakistan. But there are complications.

First up Pakistan’s own problem. After the terror attack on the Sri Lankan team in 2009, international cricket within Pakistan has come to a virtual standstill. Only Zimbabwe have toured there in recent years, every other country shying away.

Where India is concerned, a tour of Pakistan had the greatest difficulty quotient given the peculiar geo-political relations between the two countries.

Since 2009, Pakistan had sought to off-set this problem (and not just for India) by making the UAE their adopted ‘home country’. But Indo-Pak cricket has several layers to it, not the least, getting permission from the respective governments.

After the NDA government swept to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif among the dignitaries to see him take oath of office and obliquely Indo-Pak cricket got an unexpected fillip.cricket would be.

Soon though, political relations between the two countries slumped as incidents of cross-border terror grew. Worried that things could get out of hand, Shahryar Khan, soon after becoming PCB chief again, reached out to his then counterpart, Jagmohan Dalmiya — who had replaced N Srinivasan as BCCI chief in late 2014 — for a revival of Indo-Pak cricket. He even got an MOU to the effect.

But such an MOU has little value without the sanction of both governments. In the meanwhile, Jagmohan Dalmiya passed away, to be replaced by Manohar who asked for a meeting with Shahryar Khan in Mumbai in October which was scuttled by Shiv Sena activists.

Since then, the BCCI sent out feelers that a series could possibly be played in India — the government approving — but by then, the PCB has had hardened its stand, insisting that India must fulfill its obligation by playing Pakistan in the UAE.

One factor that has made Pakistan take this stiff position is of TV rights: Pakistan have sold their ‘home series’ rights to a broadcaster different from the one who has the rights to all matches played in India. This would mean substantial financial loss says PCB.

The BCCI, which is reluctant to play in the UAE or any other offshore venue because of security concerns, has (as one understands), tried to give an assurance that the PCB would be compensated for the loss caused by playing in India. But by then, a grisly tug-of-war between the two Boards had begun.

Manohar finds himself now having the complex task of not losing Pakistan as an ally in the ICC, sustaining the interests of the sport as well as not falling foul of the government of India. Which way should he turn?

There is not easy answer. My gut says that the Indian government would be amenable to a bilateral series. I also believe that if the issue is handled tactfully — and fairly where financial issues are concerned — the PCB could be made willing to tour India, with the proviso that India would reexamine its position of playing in a neutral venue (even UAE) in the future.

I would moot that Manohar (and Shahryar Khan) should be guided by the objective of resuming cricket ties. Indo-Pak cricket has always moved in fits and bursts in the past 65 years but, apart from being a marquee contest which brings financial windfalls to both countries, has also always helped socio-political relations between the two countries. That is such a great boon.