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BCCI urges govt to resume cricket ties with Pak
New Delhi, Mar 07: After last week`s overwhelming victory, the Indian cricket board has asked the government to resume bilateral cricketing ties with Pakistan to prevent India being `totally isolated` on the world stage.
New Delhi, Mar 07: After last week's overwhelming victory, the Indian cricket board has asked the government to resume bilateral cricketing ties with Pakistan to prevent
India being "totally isolated" on the world stage.
The cricket board President Jagmohan Dalmiya met the Union Sports Minister Vikram Verma here yesterday and urged him to allow one-to-one matches with Pakistan in keeping with the International Cricket Council’s request that all test nations play each other.
But there was no response from the government on the BCCI demand.
"We have made the request since the ICC has stressed that all the countries should play against each other. We have placed all the details with the sports minister," Dalmiya said. "It is for the government to decide whether we should play against Pakistan or not. We have only explained our position," he said.
Dalmiya, who submitted the letter to the sports minister yesterday, said the ICC wanted India and Pakistan to resume cricketing ties and honour the ten-year programme drawn up by the apex body.
"The ICC officials keep asking why we cannot play bilateral matches when we can play Pakistan in multi-nation tournaments," he said. Sourav Ganguly's team is scheduled to tour Pakistan next month as part of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) 10-year programme, but the tour is unlikely to go ahead because of heightened political tensions between the two countries.
"Each country is supposed to play four series against each other in a 10-year period (two at home and two abroad)," Dalmiya wrote in his letter to the sports minister.
"If India does not play against Pakistan, the equilibrium of world cricket will be severely affected because the world test championship cannot be decided. India may be totally isolated in the world cricket scenario," he stated.
India were due to play a test series with their neighbours in 2001, but the government refused to allow the team to tour, accusing Islamabad of supporting cross-border terrorism. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is desperate for the tour to go ahead, having suffered huge financial losses after New Zealand, the West Indies and Australia cancelled tours to the country on security grounds
Bureau Report
But there was no response from the government on the BCCI demand.
"We have made the request since the ICC has stressed that all the countries should play against each other. We have placed all the details with the sports minister," Dalmiya said. "It is for the government to decide whether we should play against Pakistan or not. We have only explained our position," he said.
Dalmiya, who submitted the letter to the sports minister yesterday, said the ICC wanted India and Pakistan to resume cricketing ties and honour the ten-year programme drawn up by the apex body.
"The ICC officials keep asking why we cannot play bilateral matches when we can play Pakistan in multi-nation tournaments," he said. Sourav Ganguly's team is scheduled to tour Pakistan next month as part of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) 10-year programme, but the tour is unlikely to go ahead because of heightened political tensions between the two countries.
"Each country is supposed to play four series against each other in a 10-year period (two at home and two abroad)," Dalmiya wrote in his letter to the sports minister.
"If India does not play against Pakistan, the equilibrium of world cricket will be severely affected because the world test championship cannot be decided. India may be totally isolated in the world cricket scenario," he stated.
India were due to play a test series with their neighbours in 2001, but the government refused to allow the team to tour, accusing Islamabad of supporting cross-border terrorism. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is desperate for the tour to go ahead, having suffered huge financial losses after New Zealand, the West Indies and Australia cancelled tours to the country on security grounds
Bureau Report