Bureau Report
Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has sought visas’ assurance from International Cricket Council (ICC) for its players and officials for the T20 World Cup 2021, scheduled in India.
PCB CEO Wasim Khan told PTI that the board expects a response by January 2021 to avoid any problems leading up to the main tournament.
“This is an ICC matter. We have discussed our concerns,” Khan told PTI. “There is a ‘Host Agreement’ that states very clearly that the host nation (India, in this case) will have to provide visas and accommodation for teams that are due to participate in the T20 World Cup, and Pakistan is one of them,” he said.
“We have sought assurances from the ICC that our players will receive visas and ICC is now taking this up with the BCCI because that directive and confirmation will clearly need to come from their government,” he added.
PCB believes that if there was a problem with getting visas for the world cup, then ICC will have to take up the matter directly with the Indian government.
“We have asked for a deadline till December-January, which we believe is the right thing,” he said. “We expect a response from the ICC on whether our players and officials will receive visas to participate in the tournament.
“If it (visa) isn’t (there), then like any nation would expect, we would also expect ICC to take that up directly with India and the Indian government through the BCCI to resolve this matter.”
It must be noted that India has denied visas of Pakistan athletes participating in global events held in India. In 2019, Pakistan’s shooters could not get visas for a World Cup in Delhi.
