BCCI will decide on India-Pakistan clash, says Jhulan Goswami

India's most successful spearhead, Jhulan Goswami on Wednesday said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will decide whether the national team will be up against Pakistan in a bi-lateral series post-Pulwama Terror Attack. On one hand, this remains to see if BCCI allows the team to play against men-in-green, and on other, going by ICC guidelines it is mandatory to play against all other participating teams as a part of ICC Women's ODI Championship. 

The ODI Championship is a process to qualify for the all-important ICC Women's World Cup 2021 and team's get points to play against each other, which will eventually decide the teams who make direct qualification into the World Cup. 

The rest of the teams will have to play the qualifiers ahead of the World Cup. As far as the current schedule, India has not slotted to play Pakistan but are expected to be when the next itinerary is released. 

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"It will be decided by the BCCI. We do not know what will happen against Pakistan, but yes all the matches are important for us and we should try to play positive and good cricket in those matches," Goswami said on the eve of third ODI encounter with England.

Mithali Raj also commented on the Indo-Pak game and went on saying that last time India were just three points away and had to play the qualifiers as they didn't play Pakistan last time, too. Going ahead, the team is aware the BCCI may not allow the players to play against Pakistan and the team is playing every game keeping the permutations in mind.

"The last time, I remember that we were short of three points and that is why we had to play the qualifiers. It has always been on our minds that we probably would not play against Pakistan and that is why, whatever matches we play against whoever, we should play those keeping in mind that we need those points," Raj said.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Jhulan Goswami said they will go as per what BCCI says for the game against Pakistan. 
• ODI skipper Mithali Raj also expressed her thoughts on the Indo-Pak game. 
• Currently, India has taken an unassailable lead in three-match ODI series against England.