NEW DELHI, 22 February 2005 — India announced Monday it will issue 10,000 visas to Pakistani cricket fans keen to travel to India for the series between the traditional rivals in March. The Indian diplomatic mission in Islamabad said extra visa counters would be set up in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore.
The Pakistan cricket team will arrive in India on Feb. 28 for a 50-day tour, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced. The first three-day tour opener will be played in the northern Indian city of Dharamshala from March 3 to 5.
The two teams will play three Test matches in northern Mohali city, eastern Calcutta and southern Bangalore. The Tests will be followed by a one-day warm-up match in southern Hyderabad on March 30, BCCI said.
They will then play six One-Day International matches in the cities of Cochin, Vishakapatnam, Jamshedpur, Ahmedabad, Kanpur and Delhi. The tour ends on April 17. Cricket between India and Pakistan is as much about politics as it is about sports.
Bilateral cricket ties were frozen after the Kargil conflict of 1999, when Pakistanbacked guerillas seized strategic positions on the Indian side of the ceasefire Line of Control that divides disputed Kashmir.
The Pakistan team last toured India six years ago. In March 2004, the Indian team travelled to Pakistan after a gap of 14 years. India won the Samsung Cup in Lahore after defeating Pakistan 3-2 in the five-match series.
Tendulkar Fit for Pakistan Series
Meantime, Indian batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar yesterday said from Hyderabad he was looking forward to Pakistan’s upcoming tour of India after regaining fitness.
“I’m fully fit and preparing for the big series against Pakistan,” Tendulkar said ahead of a domestic fixture, having recovered from a tennis elbow that troubled him over the past season.
Tendulkar, 31, has been in and out of the team since August due to the injury, missing one-day tournaments in the Netherlands and England before playing the last two home Tests against Australia in October.
He also played two Tests in Bangladesh, scoring a double-century that helped him equal compatriot Sunil Gavaskar’s world record of 34 Test centuries, before aggravating the injury.
The Bombay player will test his fitness in a match situation when he leads west zone in a four-day Duleep Trophy tie against south zone starting on Tuesday.
“I have done whatever doctors and physios have asked me to do and I am playing this match because I think I’m fit,” said Tendulkar, who wore an elbow strap during practice.
“I have to wait and see how things go and can’t predict what is in store as regards fitness, but I am preparing for the international matches ahead of us,” Tendulkar said.
The master batsman did not read too much into Pakistan’s recent tour of Australia where they lost a Test series 3-0 and went down to the home side in the finals of a triseries competition with the West Indies.
“You can’t judge a team by past performances. This is a fresh series and they must be very keen to do well here,” said Tendulkar.
India last year won a Test series 2-1 and a one-day series 3-2 on what was their first full tour across the border in more than 14 years because of political tensions.
