LAHORE, Pakistan, 21 March 2004 — For several years, Man Mohan Sood had wanted to return to Lahore, the city of his birth.
Sood, who played one Test for India in 1960, finally got his chance this week after visa restrictions were eased for India’s historic full cricket tour of Pakistan, their first in 14 years.
“It’s like a homecoming for me,” Sood told Reuters yesterday. “I’ve not just come here to watch the cricket but also to meet old friends and see the city where I was born.”
Thousands of Indian fans have descended on Lahore and been welcomed at hotels in traditional fashion by drums and garlands, the excitement mounting in the eastern city before the One-Day Internationals scheduled for today and Wednesday. “It’s great for the fans to be able to watch India and Pakistan play cricket again,” said Pramod Ojha, who runs a construction business in New Delhi.
“Lahore looks and feels just like home. The language, the people and the atmosphere — everything is great.” Pakistan has issued about 8,000 visas to Indian fans for the India tour. “I’m here on a three-day visa,” said S.V. Malik, who lives in Bombay but was born in the Pakistani city of Sialkot, 100 kms from Lahore. “I’m going to try and visit Sialkot, although I’m here for a very short time. If I’d been allowed, I would’ve loved to stay longer and see some other cities as well. But it’s a start that I’ve finally got here. Things should get better with time.” Tour operator Nadeem Fateh, whose Lahore-based company has put up 50 Indian fans in hotels near the Gadaffi Stadium, said some of his clients had crossed the India-Pakistan border at Wagah on foot. “We have been told by officials that a total of 2,000 people are expected to walk across the border because they could not get airline, train or bus tickets,” he said.
Sami Outpaces Akhtar With 100mph Delivery
• Amidst the hype about how fast Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar bowls, teammate Mohammad Sami’s 100 miles an hour feat against India barely created a ripple. Television speed guns clocked two deliveries by Sami at over 100mph (160 kilometers an hour) during Friday’s third One-Day International at Peshawar which Pakistan won by four wickets to lead 2-1 in the five-match series. Yet, few took notice of the rare feat that is not recognized in the record books of the International Cricket Council (ICC), but generates a lot of interest among cricket lovers. So far, only Akhtar had been timed at that pace in a One-Day International when he clocked 100.2 miles per hour in the World Cup game against England at Cape Town last year. But the Rawalpindi Express, as Akhtar is nicknamed, clocked only around 90 miles per hour on Friday even as Sami gained in pace. Even Sami himself was not aware of what he had achieved. “I don’t know, I am not aware of any records,” the slim fast bowler said.
Indian Cricket Fans Disappointed
• Cricket fans across India were deeply disappointed yesterday as their team lost the third ODI. Detailed discussions of the match and the reasons for India’s second successive defeat dominated the airwaves for hours after the match concluded. The pall of gloom worsened with the news of a cricket fans’ death after local media reported that a cricket fan had committed suicide a few days earlier. Dhani Ram, a 40-year-old cricket fan from the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh took the extreme step of killing himself after India’s first defeat in Rawalpindi on Tuesday. Relatives and friends said cricket ruled Ram’s life. Whenever India played a match, he would not go to work, nor would he eat while a match was on, they said. When India lost on Tuesday, a devastated Ram locked himself in his house and hung himself.
Shoaib’s Action Is Absolutely Clean
• Pakistan team’s doctor-cum-trainer has staunchly defended speedster Shoaib Akhtar’s bowling action, saying his other family members also have crooked elbow joints, which gives the impression that the world’s fastest bowler has an unfair action. “He is flat footed with hyper mobile joints — all his joints are hyper mobile,” Tauseef Razzaq said, giving a clean chit to the man named “Rawalpindi Express” for his speed. “It is genetic as his other brothers have the same problem,” he said, two days after Indian captain Saurav Ganguly raised fresh doubts over his bowling action. Ganguly, however, later said that he did not say what was widely reported in the local media after Shoaib’s 100th one-day match at his home city of Rawalpindi.
Pakistan’s Record at Peshawar Even
• Pakistan has an even record in ODIs played at the Arbab Niaz Stadium, winning four, and losing the same number, out of their eight matches. This venue — which was formerly known as Shahi Bagh Stadium — has a capacity of just over 14,000. The first-ever ODI in Peshawar was played between Pakistan and New Zealand in November 1984. Overall, 12 ODIs have been staged in Peshawar, including four not involving Pakistan.
India Unable to Finish Close Matches: Wright
• Coach John Wright conceded India has failed to finish off close matches even though the players do not lack the “art” of doing so. Wright said winning close matches is an art. “It’s not that we lack it, but the art of finishing close matches is not quite clicking at the moment,” he said after India lost with 16 balls to spare. Wright conceded Pakistan made better use of the conditions. “We could not finish them off in the afternoon,” said Wright, referring to the 74-run seventh-wicket stand between Abdul Razzaq (53 not out) and wicketkeeper Moin Khan (22 not out) that cinched the win. “They have won two in a row, now it’s our task to get the series back,” he said. “These have been close games, but we are not out of the series,” Wright maintained.
Top Indian Business Figures to Watch Cricket, Talk Trade in Pakistan
• In New Delhi, at least 70 Indian businesspeople will push for more trade with Pakistan while on a visit to the rival neighbor to watch the historic cricket series, a report said Saturday. The delegation includes Mukesh and Anil Ambani, the brothers who run India’s largest private company Reliance, ICICI Bank chief K.V. Kamath and Anand Mahindra, president of the Confederation of Indian Industry, The Statesman newspaper said. The report said the trip was being funded by ICICI Bank at a cost of about $220,000 and that the bank, India’s second largest, would explore the possibility of extending its network to Pakistan. Reliance Industries has already started talks to set up a petroleum plant in Pakistan. The delegation is due to meet Pakistani Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz and watch a one-day match today in Lahore.
