India doesn’t want to play Pakistan: former PCB chairman

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KARACHI: Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt has declared that the current PCB management should stop expending their energy in trying to arrange a tournament against India as ‘it would never happen.’

“It is a waste of time. It is never going to happen because the Indian board is not interested in playing against us. They use the excuse of their government’s permission all the time to not play us,” Butt told Press Trust of India recently.

Butt, whose tenure as PCB head from 2008 to 2012 was mired with controversy, believes with certainty that the Indian cricket board, BCCI, would not agree to play in Pakistan in December.

“The Indians playing us at an offshore venue is out of the question. The truth is they don’t want to play us.

“When I was chairman we even offered to play our home series in India if we got to keep the revenues but they flatly refused,” he recalled.

The former Test batsman said BCCI’s decision to not play in Pakistan was based on ill-feelings harboured between the two nations since independence.

“We may talk about friendship all the time but the fact is the Indian cricket officials have always tried to hurt us in every way possible.

“Ethically they owe us at least two home series but they will not play even now,” Butt said.