First send Bangla to Pak then convince other nations: Latif

Karachi: Former skipper Rashid Latif on Wednesday asked Bangladesh Cricket Board president Mostafa Kamal to first send its team to Pakistan and then convince other cricketing nations to tour the country.

In an interview to a leading daily, Kamal talked about convincing other nations to tour Pakistan and Latif said the BCB chief should first take a decision on their scheduled tour of Pakistan. "I am really surprised by this interview by Mostafa Kamal. He is talking about convincing other nations to tour Pakistan and at the same time the Bangladesh board is unable to yet take a decision on whether to play in Pakistan or not," Latif said. "It is really strange I would think that if Bangladesh first sent its team to Pakistan as per program it would put Mostafa Kamal in a better position to convince other nations to tour Pakistan.” "Right now even if he talks to other nations like he says he will do the first thing they will ask him is why aren`t you sending your team to Pakistan?" he added. In his interview, Kamal said if due to political reasons, the Indian team is not touring Pakistan, he shall try to convince the other boards like South Africa and England to send their teams to Pakistan. "For how long can we neglect Pakistan? How long can they host their `home` series at neutral venues?" he asked. "We cannot ignore Pakistan like this," Kamal said on his plans to talk to other boards while in India for the IPL. He also said that Bangladesh does not have any issue relating to neutral or non-neutral match officials for the Pakistan tour, but the BCB obviously is looking for whole-hearted support from the ICC regarding the tour. "Our team will tour Pakistan. I don`t know when it would happen. What if we go there only and other boards continue to ignore Pakistan," he said. "I shall take up this issue in the ICC board meeting. I want a full-fledged approval from the ICC for the tour," Mostafa said. Latif said the Pakistan cricket Board had done everything within its powers to convince the Bangladesh board to send its team to Pakistan for the one-day series. "I don`t think the PCB can do more and what`s more the BCB has kept on changing its stance on the issue of sending its team to Pakistan. How can the BCB President expect ICC to give him any guarantees regarding the Pakistan tour," he said. Latif advised the BCB chief to stop playing games with Pakistan cricket and just give a clear yes or no on the issue of touring Pakistan. "Pakistan has done a lot for Bangladesh cricket and today if we are facing problems it does not mean that other boards can play around with us.” "I don`t think we need any sympathy or support from any board including the ICC or Bangladesh in just words. If they sincerely want to help Pakistan cricket they should first send their team to Pakistan," he said. Latif also lashed out at the ICC saying it had not bothered to even once send its special task force to Pakistan to practically see the security situation on ground and constantly kept on assuring the PCB of support to revive international cricket in the country. PTI