India vs. Pakistan Cricket: Why Pakistan Will Sue Neighbor Over Bilateral Test Series Failure

The ongoing military tensions between India and Pakistan could soon spill over into a legal battle over the two countries’ most popular sport. The head of Pakistan’s cricket board said Friday they are prepared to sue their Indian counterparts over the failure to honor an agreement for the sides to resume competition in Test cricket.

The two cricket-mad countries have not competed in a Test series — the longest and most traditional version of the sport — since 2007. After the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, which India blamed on militant from Pakistan, India severed bilateral ties. Since then the two countries have only competed in one series in the shorter 50-over version of the game as well in international tournaments.

But in 2014 the cricket authorities from the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, that they would play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2022. None have yet materialized, with a planned series last December falling through after the Indian government failed to give its approval.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Shaharyar Khan announced Friday the board had received approval from its board of governors to take legal recourse against its Indian counterparts.

“We will start legal consultations soon over the matter as the BoG has today given approval,” Khan said, reports the Press Trust of India. “The fact is that the BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] signed a MOU document with us to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2022. The International Cricket Council (ICC) is witness to this MOU. We will now be consulting our legal team to take up the matter of India not playing us under the MOU with the BCCI and at the ICC level.”

PCB executive committee chairman Najam Sethi said his board had lost out on up to $200 million on four of the six series the country was due to host. Pakistan has not hosted any international cricket since a touring Sri Lanka team was attacked by terrorists in Lahore in 2009. Pakistan has since played its home matches in the United Arab Emirates.

The potential legal skirmish would be just the latest disagreement between the two countries. Since an attack on an Indian army base in the disputed region of Kashmir in September, armies from the two countries have been engaged in regular exchange of fire over the Line of Control that divides the region.