The Pakistan Cricket Board has initiated a formal dialogue with the International Cricket Council after it wrote to the world body about their decision to boycott the T20 World Cup match against India on February 15 and invoked the force majeure clause.
ICC chief executive Sanjog Gupta was in Colombo and led the discussions with the PCB brass. The latest development came barely hours before the start of the tournament on Saturday morning.
The Telegraph had earlier reported that ICC deputy chair Imran Khwaja had been spearheading backroom channel discussions to break the deadlock.
Sources revealed that the ICC highlighted the potential damages it could claim from the PCB for non-compliance of the Terms of Participation. The PCB then invoked the force majeure clause to justify their withdrawal under their government’s instructions. This exchange of mails began a couple of days ago.
“PCB has invoked Force Majeure citing the government instruction it has received to not take the field versus India... without any further questions, explanation or justification,” the source said. “The ICC asked PCB to demonstrate what it had done to mitigate the Force Majeure clause.”
The force majeure clause refers to unforeseeable circumstances which can
prevent an agreement from being fulfilled.
The ICC, in a detailed communication, has also highlighted the potential damages it could claim from the PCB. It is understood that the “structured dialogue” is expected to yield a positive result in the next 48 hours.
The ICC’s communication also mentioned the conditions under which force majeure can legitimately be invoked, “the evidentiary threshold required for non-participation and the sporting, commercial, and governance implications of such a step”, the source said.
The world body has kept its channels of dialogue open and “reiterated its commitment to contractual sanctity while continuing to emphasise the importance of dialogue without compromising its position”.
Sri Lanka Cricket had recently written to the PCB, urging them to reconsider its decision since any boycott would lead to significant financial losses for the host country. The SLC had also highlighted how it had supported PCB on previous occasions when teams were reluctant to tour because of security-related issues.
The ICC had earlier issued a strong statement reminding the PCB of “the significant and long-term implications for cricket in its own country” as the potential consequences of the boycott, though it didn’t mention any of the sanctions which could follow.
