Najam Sethi terms ICC decision politically motivated

Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Najam Sethi termed the International Cricket Council’s decision of dismissing a compensation claim by Pakistan over India's refusal to honour an agreement to play bilateral series as politically motivated.

"This is a political judgement and has been influenced by Indian politics. India has such strength in the ICC that no one can stand against it. India in the past has threatened to leave and form their own ICC if their demands are not met,” Sethi said while appearing on Geo News programme Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath on Tuesday.

“An ex-president of BCCI who is the ICC chairman gave evidence in favour of India,” Sethi added.  

It was during Sethi’s tenure that the Pakistan Cricket Board filed the case which centred on a Memorandum of Understanding according to which India and Pakistan had agreed to play six bilateral series from 2015-2023, four of which were to be hosted by Pakistan. The PCB had filed a compensation claim of $70 million.

According to Sethi, both international and local lawyers had been consulted and said PCB’s case was very straying.

“We had no doubt that our case was legally strong but realised that there would be pressure from India. We were not expecting a decision like this and hoped ICC would have said something after which things would have moved forward.”