Follow UsPCB chairman Ramiz Raja has revealed BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had invited him for the Indian Premier League (IPL) final on a couple of occasions, but he turned it down fearing the fallout of the invitation.
While the IPL final last year was played in Dubai, this year, the entire tournament was played in India with the final being played in Ahmedabad.
"Twice Ganguly has invited me to attend the IPL finals last year and this year and cricketing wise it made sense to go, but then, because of the situation, we had to look at the fallout of accepting the invitations," Raja said according to PTI.
He also said that Pakistan is keen on playing India regularly, but political issues act as hindrances.
"I have spoken to Sourav (Ganguly) on the sidelines on this and I told him that presently there are three former cricketers heading their cricket boards and if they can't make a difference who will?" Raja said.
Raja has also added that he will challenge the extended period for IPL from next year at the ICC conference. "There has been no announcement or decision as yet on the IPL window being increased. I will give my views on this issue at the ICC conference," Raja said on Friday (June 24)
"My point is clear: if there is any development in world cricket that means we are being short-changed, we will challenge it in a very forceful manner and put our point across strongly in the ICC."
The decision to challenge this comes after BCCI secretary Jay Shah said that the IPL will get an extended two-and-a-half-month window from 2024-2031 in which will allow all the international players to participate.
"From the next FTP cycle, IPL will have an official two-and-a-half-month window so that all the top international cricketers can participate. We have had discussions with various boards as well as the ICC," Shah had told PTI.