Mohali, Oct. 5: With just two days for the high-profile Champions Trophy to get underway, the Punjab Cricket Association on Thursday said it would not sign the host venue agreement unless the International Cricket Council gave a categorical assurance that it would compensate its losses.

The PCA warned that it would have no option but to pull out from staging the five matches of the elite event if no such assurance came from the game’s world governing body who hold most of the rights.

"As of now, the match will go on. Since the ICC is going ahead with the match, this explicitly means that they have accepted our stand," the PCA Chief I. S. Bindra said.

"The ICC wants us to make certain commitments which we are not ready to accept. We have made our points clear to them, but they have not accepted these conditions in writing.

"If they are not willing to accept the PCA’s conditions, they are free to stage the matches elsewhere. Either you accept or choose another venue," Bindra said.

Bindra also said the PCA would incur a loss of about Rs 90 lakh for each match since most of the major rights like television and in-stadia were with the ICC.

"It is not possible for us to bear such heavy losses. Most of the rights are with them, the only thing we have is the ticket money."

The PCA’s toughening of stand at the last minute was a little surprising considering the fact that the ICC had announced the venues nearly six months back.

As part of its policy, the ICC had ensured that the four venues selected for what is billed as a ‘mini World Cup’ were ‘clean’, which meant that those stadiums had no contractual in-stadia and hospitality obligations.

BCCI joint secretary M. P. Pandove, who was also present at the press conference, said the Board had put across the PCA’s reservations to the ICC.

"We had written to them detailing the problems faced by the Associations. But till now they have not answered."