India offered PCB quid pro quo for 'Big Three Monopoly' support

The Indian cricket board is reported to have offered the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) a minimum of three home and three away tours between 2015 and 2023 in exchange for winning the latter's support for a takeover of the operations of the International Cricket Council (ICC) by the "Big Three" i.e. India, Australia and England.

According to an Express Tribune report, this brief window of opportunity for the PCB would have fetched the latter around USD 100 million.

The deal, however, broke down when the then PCB chairman, Zaka Ashraf, asked for guarantees which the BCCI was reluctant to commit to.

According to the Express Tribune, details of the collapsed deal were shared with the PCB governing board during a meeting held on January 18 at the National Cricket Academy.

The paper further reveals that the BCCI also offered the PCB a short tour to the UAE and an opportunity to become the fourth permanent member of the group led by India, Australia and England.

Ashraf, however, wanted the BCCI to include clauses in the contracts that if the promise was not kept, then the case would be heard in Switzerland - where all ICC-related cases are decided.

The whole saga eventually led to the sacking of Ashraf by PCB patron and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.