'Pakistan can go on sans India'

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan believes the chances of the bilateral series against India are very less, looking at the current political turmoil situation between two nations.

"Given the present circumstances, the chances of a Pakistan-India series look bleak and we have to live with the fact that India are not going to play us," a website quoted Shaharyar as saying.

"At the same time, the BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] hasn't formally refused us, but we can't wait long amid this uncertainty and have got to have an alternative plan. We will wait for another couple of months before forcing our plan 'B'."

While hoping for some improvement in the relationship between the two neighbours in the near future, Shaharyar stressed on the point that cricket should not suffer between politics.

"I hope the climate will improve but at the moment it's more a political tension… the relationship between the countries is complex but cricket shouldn't be suffering, it is after all something that can be a tool to lower the tension," he stated.

Shaharyar, while acknowledging that he understood how big the BCCI was and the perks of playing India, firmly made a point that Pakistan's cricket was not dependent on their neighbours and could survive without playing them.