'No strong reason for ICC to ban Pakistan from 2019 World Cup'

Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed

Contrary to some media reports claiming that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has written a letter to the International Cricket Council (ICC) demanding that Pakistan be banned from the upcoming World Cup, till last evening, cricket's world governing body had not received any such communication.

And even if BCCI does put up such a demand, it is learnt that the ICC will not accept it and ban Pakistan since the constitution and legalities do not permit the world body from doing. India have never lost a World Cup match to Pakistan, but in this case, the Indians seem to be losers even before taking on their arch-rivals.

There is also talk that India will not play against Pakistan in the World Cup. However, the big question here is that even if Team India forfeit points in the league phase, what will they do if they have to encounter Pakistan in the knockouts?

"Remember, Pakistan have gone through the due process needed to qualify for this World Cup. ICC cannot ban a team that has done nothing wrong. One needs a strong cricketing reason for a particular team to be banned. What is the Pakistan team's fault here? Pakistan's legal position is very strong and ICC knows this, so they will not throw themselves into any legal battle," a source told mid-day yesterday.

"Besides, according to resolution 2.3 [h] of the ICC constitution 'Each Member is entitled [subject to meeting any relevant qualification criteria] to participate in certain cricket events organised or sanctioned by the ICC'. Also, all member countries are signatories to the Members' Participation Agreement [MPA], so any decision like this can only be taken if all members are in unison for a valid reason, but there is no valid reason here. The ICC has never banned any team on the request of another," added the source.

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