The International Cricket Council (ICC) has warned the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) against its refusal to have Pakistan printed on its team’s Champions Trophy kits as part of the tournament logo, state broadcaster PTV reported on Wednesday.
The Champions Trophy will be held in Pakistan from Feb 19 to March 9.
According to NDTV, the Indian board has been sent a firm message from the international cricket council in this regard, PTV reported.
“It is the responsibility of every team to add the tournament logo to their jerseys. All teams are obligated to comply with this rule,” NDTV reported.
The ICC has rejected the Indian board’s contention that it is not keen to have Pakistan written on its team kit as part of its host nation regulation, PTV reported.
“The Indian board has, in fact, been asked by ICC that the Indian team is obligated to have ‘Pakistan’ written on the kit as the nation is the original host for the tournament,” PTV said.
India, due to political strains with Pakistan, has not played any bilateral cricket with Pakistan since 2012-13 when a Misbah-ul-Haq-led squad toured India for a white-ball series.
While no Indian team has toured Pakistan after the 2008 Asia Cup, Pakistan teams in the meantime have been travelling to India for different ICC events.
To accommodate India in the eight-nation Champions Trophy, a two-way hybrid model has been adopted recently by the ICC with the consent of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and BCCI to hold all the Champions Trophy matches involving India in Dubai.
Under the same model, the Green Shirts will also not travel to India for any future ICC event in which India will hold Pakistan’s matches at a neutral venue.
Last week, questions arose about whether the Indian side or their captain Rohit Sharma will come to Pakistan to attend the Champions Trophy opening ceremony event.
On Monday, the PCB allayed fears about the readiness of the venues for this year’s Champions Trophy as it welcomed media for a tour of stadiums in Lahore and Karachi.
