The Test playing countries in Asia have agreed in principal to a system by which a side failing to honour contractual obligations to play in a series has to offer compensation to its rival team.

The Asian Cricket Council secretary Zakir Mohammad Sayeed told PTI over phone from Lahore that the presidents of the Cricket Boards of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, who met during the two-day ACC meeting that concluded on Friday, agreed that such a system was desirable but left the details to be worked out later by a sub-committee.

Pakistan had been demanding such a compensation clause to be included in the International Cricket Council's ten-year calendar for Test playing countries unveiled at its Executive Board meeting in Melbourne earlier this year.

Claiming that India's decision to cancel its scheduled tour to Pakistan starting in December last year had cost substantial financial losses to it, the Pakistan Cricket Board had urged the ICC to introduce such a clause to deter any country from going back on playing commitments in future.

The Indian government had refused to allow its team to tour Pakistan in keeping with its policy of not playing its neighbour in a bilateral series because of Islamabad's continued support to cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

The government also refused permission to its team to play in a triangular one-day series in Sharjah involving Pakistan and Sri Lanka in April, a decision that had angered the PCB which threatened not to play against India in any tournament anywhere in the world in future.

However, PCB officials today appeared happy after the BCCI president AC Muthiah explained to them India's stand that the ban was only on a bilateral series and tournaments at 'non-regular venues and that the two countries can play in tournaments featuring other nations.

Sayeed too welcomed the explanation and said the Pakistan officials had not made an issue of the Indian government's decision to skip the bilateral series. "We are very happy about it (that India and Pakistan can play in multi-lateral tournaments)," he said.

India has expressed its willingness to participate in the Asia Cup scheduled to be held in Pakistan next year and in the Asian Test championship.

Meanwhile, after informal meetings between the heads and officials of the various member Boards, the ACC delegates settled down for a formal meeting today during which they discussed the proper utilisation of $6.5 million provided by the International Cricket Council for the development of the game in the region.

© PTI