09 March 2005	Wednesday	27 Muharram 1426

Our minds are at Mohali but too late to discuss the prospects and other speculations and too early to comment on how the Test match is going. This will have to wait till next week.

The tour did not get off to a good start. In fact it was a bit of a shambles. I have no idea of the compulsions or the bright idea of playing Pakistan's opening and only practice match at Dharamshala and as it happened the match was a complete waste of time and the weather intervened as a friend to bring an early end to the shambles.

One does not associate Dharamshala with cricket but with the Dalai Lama who has made it a home away from home and indeed would have been the chief guest but for the fact that Pakistan pointed that it would have been embarrassing given the excellent relations it enjoys with the People's Republic of China.

One would have thought that someone who drew up the itinerary would have been aware of the world around him. But the Dalai Lama apart, Dharamshala seems to be back of the beyond and the Pakistan team had to travel by small aircraft that could not accommodate the entire team and so they got to Dharamshala in relays, to be greeted by cold and rain, as if the team was getting acclimatized to English conditions.

When time came to pick the Board President's XI, no selector was present and Mohammad Kaif, the captain, had to do the selection himself. Leave alone anyone from the BCCI present, even local organizers appear to have given this match not much importance.

It was the first ever international match in Himmachal Pardesh and could be its last. Why did the PCB not query why Pakistan's only practice match of the tour was being played at such a remote place?

The news that tickets for the Test match at Mohali had been snapped up turned out to be an exaggeration. The two special trains, which were to be run between Attari and Chandigarh, have been cancelled because on our side we could not run the trains for "technical reasons." More likely it is a lack of demand.

Only 3000 tickets have been sold and the rest of the 4, 500 tickets have been returned to the PCB by American Express. This seems to be a pity but perhaps, for the ODIs there will be a greater demand.

Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) have sent out invitations to all former Pakistan captains who had played against India except for Salim Malik and Asif Iqbal. One can understand Salim Malik not being invited because he is banned though one would have thought the ban would have applied to playing not watching cricket. It is possible that Asif Iqbal's name has appeared in error for why he be singled out and not invited.

Getting invited is no big deal. I, along with Farooq Mazhar had been invited by the BCCI to the quarterfinal of the India-Pakistan match at Bangalore in the 1996 World Cup. We were suitably flattered and looked forward to the good times.

This is how it went: We bought our own air tickets. We broke journey at Delhi and had to find our own hotel room. We took the flight to Bangalore and expected to be met by some official of the BCCI. We were not. We had no idea of where we would be staying and took a taxi to where the Pakistan and Indians teams were staying.

There were no bookings for us and no rooms. We chanced upon Sunil Gavaskar and he, at least, persuaded the receptionist to try and find lodgings for us. We managed to find rooms in some obscure hotel but it was a vegetarian hotel. Back in the taxi, we roamed Bangalore and finally found a hotel.

What about tickets to the match; we tried to telephone the BCCI's office but the telephone was constantly engaged. Finally, I sent an extremely rude fax and within half an hour a man arrived with two invitations.

The man said that he would come the next day to take us to the match. He didn't and we made our own way but we sat in the President's box. When it looked that Pakistan was going to lose, we left early to beat the rush and took an auto rickshaw back to the hotel.

The next morning we took the flight to Delhi and then to Lahore. Barring the invitation cards, we picked up the tab on everything else. I hope that those who are going to India as guests of the BCCI or other cricket associations are given greater hospitality.

Since Mohali cannot be the final word as the match is in progress, perhaps, this final word should go to the fiasco of a Test match between Zimbabwe and South Africa that finished in two days. As a Pakistani one can't be too harsh on Zimbabwe. Pakistan's Test match against Australia that was played at Sharjah also finished in two days. But I feel that the ICC will sooner or later have to come up with a solution that deals with teams like Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. The cricket calendar is too full and I feel that Zimbabwe and Bangladesh should be encouraged to play more Test matches between themselves. They are not yet in the senior league.