09 March 2005	Wednesday	27 Muharram 1426

MOHALI, March 8: BCCI chief Ranbir Singh Mahendra, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) says that a "lot was possible" now that cricketing ties with Pakistan had resumed.

"I think a good beginning has been made and whosoever came in the way of cricket between the two sides wouldn't succeed," he told Dawn on Tuesday. "Once you get started, there are so many things that can be achieved."

Pakistan are on a full tour of this country for the first time in six years while India went across the border in 2004 when they played three Tests and five one-day Internationals.

Ranbir said that he was happy to see that cricket was bringing people on both sides of the border together and added that despite the short time available to organize this series, his state associations were fully capable of doing a good job.

Meanwhile, a controversy over complimentary passes issued by the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA), the organizers of the first Test, has ended with a court ruling in their favour.

Additional Civil Judge Poonam Ratti dismissed a plea seeking interim injunction restraining the PCA from issuing free passes for the match that began on Tuesday. The Judge ruled that since the PCA was an autonomous body not controlled by the union or state governments, it had absolute right to distribute passes.

The court had issued notices to the chiefs of the BCCI and PCA after the head of the Federation of Lawyers against Corruption and a local resident had filed a petition challenging the issuance of passes.