00:00Is it fair to assume that, I mean, because you've raised all these issues in the past as well,
00:05fair to assume that the decision that Pakistan government has taken doesn't have anything to do with Bangladesh?
00:11So are you conceding this is actually the historic, you know, relevance or the issues that cropped up between India and Pakistan,
00:18that Pakistan is deciding to do that? Because that's not what we've heard from the PCB so far.
00:22As I said, the last...
00:23Look, look, Nikhil, I'm not a spokesman for the PCB. I'm giving you my view.
00:28The PCB apparently consulted the government and they say they have, and they took this decision.
00:34They've also given, I think, there's 10-15 days to go before that particular match.
00:40My sense is that there are negotiations that are taking place right now,
00:45and I'm hoping that those negotiations will bear fruit. But what I'm saying to you is my view.
00:50Now it is an issue about a third party in Bangladesh.
00:54What's the need for Pakistan to be boycotting an India match?
00:56When the issue really now is Bangladesh, Mr. Nakwee said it himself, that after, you know,
01:01you've not extended this courtesy of Bangladesh, we'll have a rethink.
01:04So when it was India, Pakistan, or probably on occasions where Pakistan was hurt the most,
01:08yet they continue to play. But what really happens when Bangladesh comes in,
01:12that Pakistan decide to boycott the India match?
01:15You know, it's the attitude of the BCCP. That's the problem.
01:19At every stage, they've been bullying people.
01:22Now, Pakistan used to be isolated. It was one amongst 10 at that time.
01:27Now, perhaps, there are two more permanent members.
01:32But at that time, everybody used to side with India.
01:35So there was no point in standing out.
01:37If I remember, I negotiated the final entry into the Big Three.
01:42We were the last ones.
01:43We said, no, we don't want to be part of the Big Three.
01:45And nine members signed on.
01:48And Mr. Srinivasan came to me and said, why do you want to be left alone?
01:51Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
01:52You would be isolated and all the rest of it.
01:54We had decided that we would stand aside.
01:57Okay, because it was an inherently inequitous principle.
02:03And then they said, okay, we will revise the principle.
02:06We will increase some of the shares of certain other members, including us.
02:10And also, they agreed to play a series with us in order to make up for our previous losses that we'd incurred.
02:16So the contract was fine.
02:18But see, then a year later, on the eve of the series, the VCCI, without a word, pulls out.
02:27I mean, I went to Mumbai in October of that year to finally sign on the dotted line and get everything sorted out.
02:34And they wouldn't even see us in the hotel.
02:36I mean, can you think of an even bigger insult?
02:39The chairman and I went to Mumbai.
02:42We sat in the hotel, waited for the VCCI, and the VCCI sent a message saying, sorry, we can't meet you.
02:49And we'd been invited to come to Mumbai to, in a sense, sign on the dotted line.
02:56And so they've been treating us very badly.
02:58And I think now that at least Bangladesh has also been snubbed, in a sense, we feel that, well, there are now 400 million people on one side.
03:08So we can all stand up.
03:10And I think the philosophy behind this thinking in India and Pakistan now is, sorry, in Pakistan and Bangladesh now is that it's time to stand up.
03:19It's time that these inequitous policy positions that the ICC takes, just because the VCCI is running the ICC, this is a time to stand up.
03:29There may be temporary losses, but at the end of the day, we'll probably get a better reformed ICC.
03:34There may be temporary losses, but at the end of the day, we'll probably get a better reformed ICC.
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