Mohsin Naqvi’s Camp Issues Official Statement On India Invite By ICC

PCB responds to ICC's India invite [Source: AFP]

India-Pakistan tensions, on and off the field, continue, even as bilateral cricketing relations have been broken down for years after the PCB took a firm stance on the ICC inviting them to India later in May.

Following India’s refusal to travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, the PCB have also maintained a hardline position against travelling to India for any cricket-related commitments.

However, the ICC recently issued an official notice, asking the board to send a representative to India for a special meeting involving directors from other cricket boards, putting the PCB’s stance in jeopardy.

Mohsin Naqvi’s PCB sends official statement on ICC meeting in India

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is set to conduct a meeting in Ahmedabad on May 30 and May 31. PCB, like all the boards were sent an invite as well and considering it is a directors’ meeting, Mohsin Naqvi’s presence becomes of utmost importance.

Nonetheless, the PCB’s stance remains the same on the matter, and according to TOI, Mohsin Naqvi will join the meeting, but his presence will be virtual, i.e., through video conference. Representatives from all the other countries are expected to be present in person.

Interestingly, Pakistan’s men’s team had travelled to Ahmedabad in October 2023, where they had faced a 7-wicket defeat as India chased 192 in just 30.3 overs.

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PCB’s revolt against ICC and BCCI intensifies

Since Pakistan’s World Cup 2023 visit to India, a lot has happened between the two nations. After their presence in India for the competition, the PCB expected BCCI and the Indian government to allow their team to travel to Pakistan for the aforementioned ICC event in 2025.

But, with India not travelling in 2025, PCB had to move their matches to Dubai, where India eventually won the title. Later in 2025, the Pahalgam terror attack, followed by the cross-border tensions, further intensified the tensions between the two countries.

The Women’s Emerging Asia Cup 2025 was cancelled, and the Men’s Asia Cup saw handshake-gate and several other controversial gestures from Pakistan players in poor taste, despite the team’s poor performances. Mohsin Naqvi also refused to hand over the trophy to India after the Indians decided not to receive it from the PCB chief.

Furthermore, Pakistan did not play a single match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in India and all their matches were scheduled in Sri Lanka. Additionally, they officially announced a boycott of the clash against India after Bangladesh was replaced from the tournament. However, later on played and lost the match in Colombo.

ICC to discuss major issues in Ahmedabad

The aforementioned meeting was officially scheduled in Doha, Qatar, but due to the war-like situation in West Asia, it had to be moved to India.

Among the agendas of the meeting will be the future of Test cricket and how the World Test Championship can be restructured, with a potential inclusion of Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan in the foreseeable future. There are also speculations of dividing the WTC into two tiers of 6 teams each to avoid lopsided results.

The Annual General Meeting of ICC is also expected to take place in Edinburgh later this year after the Women’s T20 World Cup in England.

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