KARACHI: Pakistan’s cricket chiefs are no more optimistic about the prospects of hosting a money-spinning bilateral series against traditional rivals India even on neutral soil because of strained relations between the two neighbours.
The stumbling block for the proposed series is once again the strained relations between Pakistan and India which show little signs of improvement since taking a lethal blow in the shape of the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
Ijaz Butt, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, had on various occasions expressed his hope of lining up a full-fledged series against India on offshore venues like Dubai and Abu Dhabi. His idea is to host India for Tests, One-day Internationals and a couple of Twenty20 games in a bid to recover losses of over US$40 million suffered by the PCB after India’s refusal to tour Pakistan for a series scheduled for early last year.
Butt appeared confident till a few months back that such a series is possible in 2010 but ask Wasim Bari, the PCB chief operating officer, and he will tell you that such hopes now seem to be a bit unrealistic.
“There has been no development on the idea of having matches against India on neutral venues,” Bari told ‘The News’ in an interview on Saturday. “The thing is that we can’t line up anything with India unless there is a go-ahead from the two governments. For the time being I’m not too hopeful of getting that,” added the former Pakistan Test wicketkeeper.
Bari said that otherwise relations between the PCB and the Indian cricket board (BCCI) were perfectly fine. “There are no problems between the two boards and if given the go-ahead by the governments we can work on a bilateral series.”
The PCB had raised its hopes about hosting India on neutral soil after getting support from the International Cricket Council (ICC) last year. The ICC had backed the idea of keeping regular slots for Pakistan-India matches in its Future Tour Programme (FTP) from 2012 to 2016 and to 2020.
Speaking on a different issue, Bari said that the Board’s appeals committee will soon begin proceedings regarding the appeals it is receiving from the players punished by the PCB in the aftermath of a disastrous tour of Australia earlier this year.
However, Bari refrained from commenting on the time frame given to the committee that comprises retired judges, saying that the tribunal will deal with the matter without any interference from the Board. “I can’t talk about the time frame given to the appellate court. The case is now in judges’ hands and we will wait for them to complete the proceedings,” he said.
Last month, the PCB banned and fines seven of the country’s leading cricketers for offences ranging from indiscipline, ball-tampering and ‘infighting’. Most of the players have filed an appeal against the punishments.
Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=233729
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