(UTV|COLOMBO) – Barely a week after competing on the 22-yards, the bitter Indo-Pak rivalry resumed albeit on a different ‘pitch’ where ICC’s Dispute Resolution Forum heard PCB’s USD 70 million compensation claim against BCCI for allegedly not honouring bilateral series agreement. Monday was the first day of the hearing and it will conclude on Wednesday.
The three-member ICC panel headed by Michael Beloff, along with Jan Paulsson and Dr Annabelle Bennett heard first day’s proceedings. The BCCI is being represented by Dubai-based law firm Herbert Smith Freehills along with British Lawyer QC Ian Mills. BCCI’s own battery of Indian lawyers are also present.
The PCB’s contention has been that Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2014 by erstwhile BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel is binding. The MoU stated that the two neighbours were supposed to play six series in eight years between 2015-2023. Four of those series was supposed to be hosted by Pakistan that included 24 matches across three formats. The six tours would have constituted 56 games which included 14 Tests, 30 ODIs and 12 T20Is.
However, BCCI maintained that the contract is no longer legally binding as PCB didn’t support BCCI’s ‘Big Three’ revenue sharing model where India, Australia and England would have got bigger share of the profit pie. “There is no question of even paying a single penny to PCB. They went back on their promise. The agreement was based on their support for our revenue model,” a senior BCCI official said.
