Criticising the Indian government for banning its team from playing in bilateral cricket series against Pakistan, outgoing International Cricket Council chief Malcolm Gray has said whatever the "political arguments", the decision is "hurting immeasurably" the game.
"While the BCCI has decided to pursue this goal [of resumption of bilateral series] on its own, the ICC wishes to work with it and the Indian government to try and identify a way in which this impasse can be broken," Gray said in the ICC annual report, in London.
With the Indian government allowing its national team to play against Pakistan only in multi-national tournaments, Gray said India's reluctance to play bilateral series against their arch-rivals is harming the game immensely.
"Whatever the political arguments, this decision is hurting immeasurably the game of cricket," he said.
The two sides met each other for the last time in a bilateral series in 1999, when Pakistan toured India for a two-match Test series and a match in the Asian Test championship.
The teams recently met during the World Cup in South Africa earlier this year, where India beat Pakistan by six wickets in a league match in Centurion.
Gray said he had been invited by the Pakistan Cricket Board to meet Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf to discuss the issue.
"I took great encouragement from his enthusiasm for the sport and commitment to avoid making political mileage out of one of the world's great sporting rivalries. Unfortunately, this view is not shared in India."
He said the Board of Control for Cricket in India can also play a big role in resumption of cricketing ties between the two sides.
"The BCCI has elected to shoulder a heavy responsibility to the game by taking on the task of working with its government to allow the resumption of cricketing ties between the two nations," said Gray, who would be handing over the reins of the ICC to Ehsan Mani later on Thursday.
Gray also hoped for resumption of normal cricketing relations between all members of the ICC but admitted safety and security continued to be a major problem over the past 12 months.
"Our members are drawn from a diverse range of cultures and we have seen that increased political tensions around the world create real and perceived security risks in some of the places where cricket is played.
"These concerns also affected the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 with Kenya and Zimbabwe suffering following decisions by New Zealand and England respectively not to fulfil the fixtures scheduled in these countries," Gray said.
He said the problems have forced the ICC to play an increasingly central role by looking to work with the boards affected.
"The ICC role -- in conjunction with the boards - is to explore every possible option to ensure the continuation of scheduled matches while ensuring that any risk to players and officials is properly identified and addressed.
"Despite international tensions I am confident the ICC will be able to lead cricket through this difficult time."
ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed also echoed his senior's sentiments saying the game's governing body needs to seek pragmatic solutions to the issues.
"The debate about the role of politics in sport will always be heated, divisive and impossible to resolve, but the ICC's view is clear and has the force of logic.
"If the ICC took into account political consideration in deciding where matches should be played, few member countries would be immune from the risk that one or other country would refuse to play against it.
"The ICC has been required to make many hard decisions in order to implement the board's decisions. At times these have proved unpopular in some quarters but they have always been made without fear or favour," Speed said.
