Karachi: Pakistan has kicked off a legal battle against India for not honouring a bilateral cricket series agreement, the sport’s governing body confirmed Thursday.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is seeking $70 million in compensation from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after the country failed to attend two series in 2014 and 2015 as part of a memorandum of understanding signed between the two boards.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed receiving the notice.

“The ICC has received a Notice of Dispute from the PCB’s lawyers, which will be forwarded to the chairman of the Dispute Resolutions Committee next week,” a spokesman of the ICC said.

The ICC Dispute Resolution Committee is headed by Michael Beloff QC who will appoint independent adjudicators to hear the case.

The PCB sent a legal notice to their counterparts earlier this year but Indian officials rejected the memorandum as “a piece of paper”.

The arch-rivals have not played a full bilateral series since 2007.

New Delhi halted all bilateral sports with Pakistan in the wake of 2008 Mumbai attacks, which India blamed on militants based in Pakistan.

Those attacks, which left eight people dead and seven Sri Lanka players and their staff injured, suspended international cricket in Pakistan and forced them to play at neutral venues of United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The two planned series between India and Pakistan were due to take place at a neutral venue.

Tomorrow will be a big day for Indian cricket as the Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI) selectors will announce 15-man squad for ICC World Cup Twenty20.

While there aren’t many changes expected in the T20I squad that won a historic 3-0 series against Australia recently, Sandeep Patil & Co could pull off some surprises for the event.

Here is what we think selectors might opt for:

Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah

Others in fray: Hardik Pandya, Manish Pandey, Ishant Sharma, Harbhajan Singh

Hardik Pandya might be new to international cricket, but considering the way he performed in the last IPL season and also considering he is a handy batsman lower down the order who can also bowl medium pace, selectors might stick with him.

Bumrah too is another name which doesn’t have enough experience under his belt, but ever since he replaced injured Mohammed Shami during the Australia tour, he kept impressing everybody and his unorthodox action makes him a difficult nut to crack for the best of batsmen.

Since Umesh Yadav has been dropped for the three-match T20I series vs Sri Lanka, the selectors have possibly given up on the pacer considering his lack of control over line and length.

Pandya and Bumrah are two names who haven’t left many options before the selectors, who will have to let go of some of the big names like Irfan Pathan, Robin Uthappa and Yusuf Pathan, who are all T20 specialists and could have easily been a part of India’s plans to win their second World T20 title.

Zimbabwe were gifted a wicket when disastrous running between the wickets by Bangladeshi openers saw the back of Soumya Sarkar.

Tamim didn’t respond to Soumya’s call, and both the batters ended up on one side of the wicket. Soumya scored seven runs before he was run out.

Earlier, Bangladesh managed to restrict Zimbabwe down to 163 at the end of 20 overs with wickets at regular intervals.

Mustafizur, Al-Amin and Shakib Al Hasan struck during the death overs, and were ably supported by the fielders to inflict two run-outs in the Zimbabwean camp.

Mustafizur and Al-Amin took two wickets each while Shakib picked one. For Zimbabwe it was the Hamilton Masakadza show all through!

He and Sibanda laid the foundation for the challenging total with their first wicket stand.

Mustafizur struck twice in the 19th over to hurt Zimbabwe’s chances of a big total. The left arm sensation clean bowled Elton Chigumbura and Luke Jongwe of consecutive deliveries, and conceded only two runs in the over.

Bangladeshi pacer finished his quota of four overs, took two wickets and gave away only 18 runs.

The 18th over brought the downfall of Hamilton Masakadza, who had dominated proceedings from the start. Nurul Hasan found the Zimbabwean batter short with an accurate over-arm throw.

Masakadza hammered 79 from 53 balls. His brutal knock included nine fours and two sixes as well. He gave Zimbabwe the impetus for a big total today, and looked comfortable as long as he stayed at the crease.

Zimbabwe lost their second wicket in the 15th over due to an unnecessary run-out against the run of play.

With erroneous calling, a horrible mix-up resulted when the batters went for the second run, and saw Waller short of the crease by miles. The batsman scored 14 from 8 balls.

Shakib Al Hasan gave Bangladesh their first breakthrough when he sent back Sibanda for a well-made 46 from 39 balls.

Sibanda and Masakadza got stuck into the Bangladeshi bowlers, and smashed a century partnership in real quick time. Their opening stand lasted 12 overs and produced 101 runs.

Hamilton Masakadza was going strong at the crease, and had reached his fifty off 33 balls. He was unbeaten on 58 from 37 balls with eight fours and a huge six after 12 overs into this match.

Masakadza and Sibanda gave Zimbabwe a blistering start, with boundaries flowing from both the openers’ bat.

Zimbabwe batters racked up forty runs after only five overs on the board, and looked to take the attack to the Bangladeshi bowlers and unsettle them.

Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura won the toss, and decided to bat first and put up a good total on the board in the first T20I of the series against Bangladesh at Khulna.

Zimbabwe have a 16-man squad to choose from, which includes the return of Vusi Sibanda, Sean Williams and Brian Vitori, who in 2011 troubled Bangladesh at home, picking up a matchwinning first-innings four-for in the only Test and topping the wicket charts in the ODI series.

The visitors will want to bounce back after their recent series losses, in both ODIs and T20s, to Afghanistan in the UAE. Coach Dav

Bangladeshi ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan takes a wicket.

Whatmore said it was a closer contest than the result suggested but Zimbabwe would still be concerned by their current form.

Experimentation is the buzzword around the second Bangladesh-Zimbabwe T20 series in the 2015-16 season.

Both teams are looking ahead to the World T20 in March, and with the least exposure in this format among all Test-playing nations, it is hardly a surprise that they are trying to cram in as many T20s as possible before the major event.

Shakib Al Hasan and Soumya Sarkar are back in their squad, with three newcomers also given a chance to show their worth in the first two T20s.  Bangladesh have handed debuts to Shuvagata Hom and Nurul Hasan. Imrul Kayes, Abu Hider and Arafat Sunny have been left out.

Teams

Bangladesh: 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Mahmudullah, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim, 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Sabbir Rahman, 7 Shuvagata Hom, 8 Nurul Hasan (Wicketkeeper), 9 Mashrafe Mortaza (Captain), 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Al-Amin Hossain

Zimbabwe: 1 Vusi Sibanda, 2 Hamilton Masakadza, 3 Peter Moor (Wicketkeeper), 4 Sean Williams, 5 Malcolm Waller, 6 Sikandar Raza, 7 Elton Chigumbura (Captain), 8 Luke Jongwe, 9 Graeme Cremer, 10 Wellington Masakadza, 11 Brian Vitori

The star pair has now begun to chase an even bigger record. Back in 1990, the dynamic duo of Jana Novotna and Helena Sukova won a whopping 44 matches in a row.

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza, along with her Swiss partner Martina Hingis on Thursday created history by winning 29 matches in a row.

The World No. 1 pair defeated Yaroslava Shevedova and Raluca Olaru 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 in a rain-interrupted semi-final to advance into the final of Sydney International.

With this win, they have surpassed record of Puerto Rican Gigi Fernandez and Belarus’ Natasha Zvereva in 1994 of winning 28 matches in a row.

The star pair has now begun to chase an even bigger record. Back in 1990, the dynamic duo of Jana Novotna and Helena Sukova won a whopping 44 matches in a row.

Earlier on Wednesday, the top seeds Mirza and Hingis got the better of China’s Chen Liang and Shuai Peng 6-2 6-3 in less than an hour to enter the last-four stage and remain on course for a second successive title this year.

Since the beginning of 2015, Mirza and Hingis have won 10 WTA doubles titles together — Indian Wells, Miami, Charleston, Wimbledon, US Open, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Beijing and WTA Finals in 2015, and last week’s Brisbane International.

Barinder Sran got India off to a good start as he picked a wicket in his second over dismissing Aaaron Finch and followed it with the huge wicket of David Warner.

Australian skipper Steve Smith’s 149 overshadowed a brilliant ton by Rohit Sharma, as Australia defeated India by 5 wickets in the first ODI at the WACA ground in Perth.

On a batsman-friendly pitch, India posted a formidable 309-run total on board, courtesy a magnificent 171-run knock by opener Rohit Sharma.

Rohit, along with Virat Kohli (91), stitched a 207-run stand for the second wicket, after Josh Hazlewood dismissed Shikhar Dhawan for 9 in the seventh over of the innings. The partnership was finally broken by James Faulkner, when in the 45th over, Kohli holed one to straight to long-on.

In reply, debutant pacer Barinder Sran got India off to a good start as he picked a wicket in his second over dismissing Aaaron Finch and followed it with the huge wicket of David Warner.

But after that, wickets were hard to come by as George Bailey and Smith pummeled the Indian bowlers. The duo added a massive 242-run stand for the third wicket and by the time Bailey was dismissed for 112, Australia were already in the driver’s seat.

The irony underpinning the whole, sorry car crash is that Chelsea told Jose Mourinho, from the moment he returned to them, that they no longer wanted to be the Nasty Party. That he should try to stand for something different, second time around.

He accepted this and it was in part with his own legacy in mind that he told them he wanted no longer to be seen as the bad man, or enemy, of football – albeit with some disquiet in the back of his mind. “I won’t have the same success if I cut out the conflict,” Mourinho said in one of the early conversations with those at the top of Stamford Bridge. They knew that when the pips started to squeak, the so-called Happy One would give way to the Machiavellian One. It would always be one of the “tools in the box,” says one who has seen this unravelling from the inside and points out that nice guys aren’t winners.

No one quite anticipated how relentlessly those implements would be used, though. In one four-week period last spring, Mourinho’s vials of poison were administered to Brendan Rodgers, accused of failing to appreciate his own goalkeeper; Graeme Souness, impugned for his managerial record; Sky Sports, blackballed for providing a critical appraisal; and an unsuspecting Chelsea ballboy, bollocked for throwing a ball to a Manchester City player.

Mourinho expected to be given £12m severance package by Chelsea

Well, unfortunately for Mourinho, the club were determined to move on, even if he wasn’t. They meant it when they said they actively wanted to represent something positive, as Arsenal and the Manchester clubs do, and you certainly give thanks for that. There’s a contradiction at the heart of Stamford Bridge, you see. When you meet the front-desk staff, become acquainted with the communications staff, encounter the stewards, you discover a club which stands for modernity, dignity, hospitality. And then the manager pops up behind the press conference table and hauls us all the way back to the bad old Chelsea.

The modernity runs all the way through to the way the club conducts its contractual business, actually. Marina Granovskaia, the long-time head of Abramovich’s family office, does its negotiating and, the agents will tell you, has formidable powers in that field and a fierce grasp of financial detail. No more of those Wild West days, with the club being taken to the cleaners. As the Eva Carneiro saga deepened last autumn, with Mourinho incapable of contrition, you wondered how on earth Granovskaia felt about the unreconstructed image of Chelsea it was creating.

The search for something better is bigger than Mourinho. That much was clear when, having told Petr Cech that he would be allowed to leave for the club of his choice if he gave them one more year’s service, Roman Abramovich sanctioned it being Arsenal – even though Mourinho hated that. And when, as Manchester City’s opaque accountancy work left them in default of Uefa’s financial fair play regime, Chelsea accepted its spirit – even though it meant selling André Schürrle to buy Juan Cuadrado, catastrophic though that calculation proved to be.

Amid the broader picture of where Chelsea have been trying to head, with painstaking public consultation over plans to expand their stadium, Mourinho’s attempts to adhere to the new code seemed pitifully meagre. It was noted within the four walls of the club that the manager’s relationship with Michael Emenalo, the club’s technical director, was substantially better than the one the Portuguese shared with Frank Arnesen during his first spell at the club. The two were said to be in and out of each other’s offices. Small beer. Just like the regret Mourinho privately expressed in retrospect after describing Arsène Wenger as a “specialist in failure”.

What we now know is that he was like a kid on his best behaviour, as incapable as any of us of materially changing his philosophy and personality when he is into his sixth decade. Chelsea could accept that for as long as he was annihilating the opposition in a desperately poor Premier League last season. But the trouble with the ways of Mourinho are that when the winning stops and the pretty lines – “little horses need milk” and all that – cease, there is nothing underpinning the structure except the spite and bile he perpetrates. “His method generates media conflict almost permanently and it is also a potential source of conflict within the club,” the Manchester City CEO, Ferran Soriano, has written of Mourinho. So wise.

It was the inner desire for modernity which informed some of the Chelsea chat-room conversations, after news of Mourinho’s sacking broke. Just when a wave of sentiment for him surfaced, the response went along the lines of: “Will you stop? It’s not about him.” The dignified and comparatively expansive 150-word Chelsea statement announcing the departure – listing Mourinho’s achievements, heralding him as the club’s best, thanking him for what he has brought – seemed to be cut from the same sentiment about doing things the right way. Not every club would have issued that.

So the Chelsea train rolls on. The stadium redevelopment will soon start. The accounts reveal financial self-sufficiency. The club clearly wants to represent and stand for something more than unadulterated wealth, in the way that the other English giants do. For this reason, Pep Guardiola will seem more attractive than ever. The plan beyond this season should certainly not include asking another inherently unpleasant individual to take them over the threshold of a new promised land.