Bismah Maroof, the Pakistan Women captain, has said she is disappointed by ICC’s decision to split their ICC Women’s Championship points equally with India for matches the latter couldn’t play.

India and Pakistan haven’t engaged in bilateral cricket due to political tensions over the last decade, and BCCI were unable to get necessary clearances from their government to play Pakistan in the Women’s Championship.

The ICC, however, considered it a ‘force majeure event’ and split the points equally, meaning India pipped Pakistan to the direct qualification slots, joining Australia, England, South Africa and hosts New Zealand. Pakistan will now have to go through the qualifiers, scheduled to be played in July.

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“The decision really was disappointing,” Maroof said on a video conference call with reporters. “Because we’d been waiting for a long time to play India, and I’m sure our board was working on it. But I remember we weren’t able to get a response. It was quite disappointing.

“I’m sure PCB’s legal team is working on it, and we will back whatever they decide. India got points without playing any competitive cricket. I am looking to take positives out of this decision, that we will get some more matches in the qualifying round.”

Maroof said that playing the qualifiers would have been easier to accept had they not made the qualification positions naturally. “The India-Pakistan matches are always quite hyped and the audience has missed the exciting cricket these contests provide,” she said.

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“We’ve always shown willingness to play against India, and Pakistan has always kept politics away from sport. It was disappointing that we did not get those matches, because those are really competitive matches.

“And we were on No.4 [No.5] in the Championship table. If we would have played and then not made it [automatically], then it would have perhaps been easier for us to accept as cricketers and as a team.”

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