KARACHI, 28 January 2005 — Pakistan will discuss their reservations with India over playing at Ahmedabad on their coming tour of India during a meeting of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in Dubai on Jan. 30.
A top ranking Pakistan cricket Board official confirmed Tuesday that the venues for the coming tour of three Tests and five one-day internationals would come under discussion when the officials of the two boards meet in Dubai for the ACC meeting.
“The chief patron of the board, President General Pervaz Musharraf, has made his views about the coming tour very clear to us. He wants us to finalize everything while maintaining our cordial relations with the Indian board. “Until now the main issue between the two boards has been security related. When India visited Pakistan last year they had some security concerns, which we addressed. Similarly for the coming tour we are at present focusing on the security and logistical arrangements at every venue,” Chairman Shaharyar Khan said.
“We don’t want any political overtones to enter into our discussions with the Indian board and we are confident they will also try to accomodate our point of view and be flexible. But yes as far as Ahmedabad is concerned for Pakistan there is a political overtone to playing there and we have to address that with the cooperation of the Indian board,” Shaharyar said.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India have announced Mohali, Ahmedabad and Bangalore as the Test venues and Cochin, Vishakapatnam, Delhi, Kanpur and Jamshedpur the one-day venues for the Feb. 25-April 9 tour. The Pakistan cricket authorities have been advised by the foreign ministry to avoid playing at Ahmedabad, the major city in Gujarat, which is controversial as the western state was rocked by India’s worst communal riots for a decade in 2002.
Shaharyar also said that the views and advice of the Pakistan foreign ministry and high commission in India were being taken while finalizing details of the tour. He, however, admitted that Pakistan realized that it was a difficult situation for the Indian board since they had so many Test and international venues and had to give matches on rotation basis. “We understand their position. But while we have no problems accepting their assurances about security we want to ensure that the tour is not derailed by any politics.”
PCB Chief to Have ‘Hard Talk’
With Shoaib
The Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Tuesday that he was going to have a one-on-one “Hard talk” with fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar when he returned home from Australia.
“I think we need to have a hard talk with Shoaib because certainly we are not happy with the reports about him in Australia. We are conducting our own internal inquiry into the reports carried about him visiting nightclubs and bars during the Sydney Test,” Shaharyar Khan said in an exclusive interview. “Shoaib has said that he only visited some restaurants during the Test. But we are not happy with the image being conveyed through him of Pakistan cricket.
Meantime, the PCB on Tuesday confirmed that Haroon Rasheed is being replaced as manager for the Indian tour but maintained a tentative stance over the captaincy issue.
“Due to the sensitivities attached with the Indian tour it has been decided to appoint a manager who can handle things on the diplomatic front. It has still not been decided who this person will be. But the President has given his approval. We will also appoint an assistant manager for the Indian tour,” Shaharyar said. “I don’t want to go into the details of whether Haroon did a good or bad job. But we are taking our decisions based on the requirements for the Indian tour,” he stated.
