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LAHORE: Pakistan's Test and one-day captain Misbah-ul Haq on Thursday called for a quick revival of matches against arch-rivals India, saying that fans were keen to see the teams play.
“It is very important that we have a quick revival of Indo-Pak cricket, because fans desperately want to see both countries play,” Misbah told reporters.
India broke off diplomatic and sporting ties with its neighbour after the 2008 attacks on Mumbai which left 166 people dead and were blamed on militants based in Pakistan.
But the visit last month of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to India has raised hopes the nuclear-armed rivals are eager to revive ties in sports, trade and travel.
Cricket, the major sport in both countries, was discussed between Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, with Singh passing information on to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
After the talks, the BCCI gave the green light to Pakistan's domestic Twenty20 champions Sialkot Stallions to take part in October's Champions League.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Zaka Ashraf and chief operating officer Subhan Ahmed – who toured India to watch the final of the Indian Premier League on Sunday – have raised hopes of an imminent breakthrough.
Misbah, 38, played down reports in local media that players were not satisfied with pay rises awarded by the PCB last week, after a delay of five months.
“Pakistan cricket is improving and such reports to create controversies are not good for us,” said Misbah.
The PCB upped players' monthly salaries by 25 percent and match fees by 10 percent. “I think it must be welcomed as the PCB is not earning much because of no international cricket in the country,” said Misbah.
Pakistan has not hosted any major international cricket since gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore in 2009.
Misbah and the rest of the one-day team fly to Colombo on Saturday for the series against Sri Lanka.
Pakistan's Twenty20 squad is already in Hambantota where the first of two matches will be played on Friday.
Read more
On DawnNews
Comments (43) Closed
May 31, 2012 02:40pm
Lately have seen a number of Pak cricketers-former and present expressing thier desire to either play in IPL or have Indo-Pak cricketing restored. Wondering if the Indians too have this types of eagerness? My guess would be NOT.
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May 31, 2012 02:46pm
In your dream Misbah! stop begging to play with India! we are not interested and do not want you people to step in India! we know you are bankrupt and dying to play in IPL, but sorry! keep trying! no chance!
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May 31, 2012 03:29pm
@lovepork
and you have nothing better to do with your life than to troll the news papers of the country you hate!
and here i was thinking that dodos have become extinct!
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May 31, 2012 03:52pm
You are absolutely correct! and please let your country men know that we Indian are not interested with you at all, so leave us alone!
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May 31, 2012 04:55pm
Actually Misbah you are wrong. Fans are not that keen anymore watching India/Pakistan playing. Why? Fans are wary of the fact that these ties will continue to be broken after any big or small incident. There is no use to keep this rivalry hostage to political fallout between the two. I rather see Pakistan take on England and India on Australia. While at it, beat the bonkers out of Bangladesh too.
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May 31, 2012 05:14pm
proud to be pakistani don't beg it your ipl is full of match fixing
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May 31, 2012 05:17pm
Will you please keep quite, who authorised you to talk about Indian people. First go and learn lesson some moral lesson then put comments on blogs.
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May 31, 2012 05:40pm
Misbah Bhai, we would love to play. but you need to first check with people of Mumbai if they are okay for this. Your government need make sincere effort to catch all involved in Mumbai massacre. Till all those involved are behind bars I don't see this going anywhere.
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May 31, 2012 05:43pm
I am sure not every cricket fan in India shares your view on this matter.
Having said that, it is indeed pathetic to see our officials and players so desperate to play in/with India. IPL is just a money circus and becoming a highly attractive place for matchfixing/spotfixing while Indian team is on a gradual decline as evident from their shameful whitewash against England and Australia so if our officials/players should reduce their lust for more money and focus on playing with sincere friends like srilanka etc.
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May 31, 2012 05:53pm
I am sorry to break the bubble but indians are not interested in anything paki. Pak is nothing but bad news and we have far moved on from our common history together while you still struggle for political stability, law and order, reputation in the world, bankruptcy etc. There is a reason why no one wants to visit pak or associate with it and there is a also a reason why your elite will give their right arm to live and work in india. Stop making castles in the air and clean house.
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May 31, 2012 06:18pm
Well as an Indian I am in favor of resume of bilateral series between India and Pak but honestly speaking the mumbai left everyone in bitter taste.. it will take time to heal the wound. I think time has some to move over it. I pray that the two countries have normal relationship like neighbors. PEACE!
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May 31, 2012 07:06pm
IPL is 5th most sporting event in the world. Thanks to BCCI for the way they have demonstrated & handled well despite controversies & critisism. This IPL season 5 was on of the best tournament & the players, organizers raked in lot of moolah. No doubt the pakis are tempted with this kind of money as PCB has no money in their coffers & simply cant miss this opportunity.
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May 31, 2012 07:34pm
NOOOOO!@#$%^&* Nothing doing with Pakis No Cricket, No Bilateral Talks, No Normal relationship, no Trade Just Leave us alone.
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May 31, 2012 10:19pm
Comments here are scarce. Check the comments in the article below on cricinfo and see for yourself how many Indians are supporting revival of ind-pak series.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/stor...
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May 31, 2012 10:41pm
As an Indian I have absoluteky no interest in seeing Indians play with Pakistan.
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May 31, 2012 10:53pm
Why is there so much hypocracy being expressed by these (above) people as if they have the decision making powers !!!
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May 31, 2012 11:22pm
To moderator,
As an Indian I certainly appreciate your impartiality and courage to post the comments made by Indians in this forum, it is very nice of you. But at the same time it shows how deep the hatred is towards the Pakis after Mumbai attack! It will take a long time to heal, if it ever! Since 1947 you Pakistanis only learned how to hate Indians specially Hindus. Now, thanks to ISI and Zia ul Haque, we the Indians started hating the same way, we are now paying it back to you!
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May 31, 2012 11:24pm
we Indians r not bothered to host Pakistanis in our land - we want peace and Pakistanis and peace doesent goes well with each other
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May 31, 2012 11:53pm
Misbah-ul Haq has always messed up the matches between Indian and Pakistan whenever they have played until recently............he is fine whenever he plays other counteries except for India
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Jun 01, 2012 12:40am
I think india has always been afraid to play pak. i mean look at the head to head. pak bashes them in so many formats..
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Jun 01, 2012 01:30am
We have left you alone. Its you who are coming here making your comments. Peace
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Jun 01, 2012 02:30am
And by the way Pakistanis are not even reading this article you can see this by thumbs up and thumbs down.
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Jun 01, 2012 04:00am
stop begging Mishab ...we Indians are not intrested .. please leave us
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Jun 01, 2012 04:25am
No Indo-Pak cricket until Pakistan punishes 26/11 culpits.
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Jun 01, 2012 04:50am
Not as long as Pakistan supports terrorists against India and pretend as if
they have nothing to with it. Duplicity ! , thy name is Pakistan !~
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Jun 01, 2012 05:33am
>> I think time has some to move over it
Move over ? - really ? - haaaaa - no wonder the world thinks of us as a soft state.
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Jun 01, 2012 08:07am
BCCI and Indian politicians will regret if they revive Indo-Pak cricket. Indians have not forgotten Bombay Burning.
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Jun 01, 2012 09:08am
Misbah wants to play India so he can show more of his tuk tuk skills! As a Paki, I do not look forward to any Indo Pak matches as we know that our players will let us down AGAIN. Secondly, I think our players should really stop begging to be a part of IPL. Really, it is India's event and its upon them to decide. Moreover, even as a part of IPL, when did they perform? And last but not least, lets give some credit to Indian team, they play better game than us and there is no shame in admitting the fact. They can chase big targets, unlike our players who give up in first five overs.
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Jun 01, 2012 09:14am
Lovepork - please go n read and comment on your own newspapers. No one here is interested in seeing your comments... so please leave US alone!
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Jun 01, 2012 09:23am
OMG. Where have you seen India getting bashed up by Pak. In ur dreams?
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Jun 01, 2012 11:19am
well misbah for your comments but i dnt want that pakistan play with india !and i m very thankful of Zaka ashraf for his try try again back to the internationl cricket to pakistan
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Jun 01, 2012 11:23am
go and c the records of pak vs india matches and then tell about dreams dearrrrrrrrrr
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Jun 01, 2012 11:43am
Imagine that a group of Indians came to Pakistan and killed 200 prople - will Pakistanis would still like to play India? At leat punish the Pakistanis responsible for 26/11 and then think about cricket.
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Jun 01, 2012 12:00pm
dude get your spelling right first before you write!
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Jun 01, 2012 02:03pm
Share the records with us of the last 10 years and see what comes out. India has defeated Pakistan in all the World Cup matches. Besides Cricket, compare other games as well. India has surged ahead in last 10 years.
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Jun 01, 2012 02:19pm
Cricinfo is no better than Dawn. Infact, if you look at comments in Cricinfo you will read same message written under different names which leads me to think someone trying to hijack the opinion. Cricinfo has a vested interest in the Tamasha and sensationizing cricket .. what will it do if no cricket is played ???? Who will bother to read it ?
This is a genuine forum.
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Jun 01, 2012 03:07pm
It is uncalled for on your part to comment on IPL, saying it is all about money..
Are your players playing for free for your nation?
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Jun 01, 2012 03:12pm
well said, man.. we, Indians, are not interested...
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Jun 01, 2012 03:39pm
Indian desperately want to see justice to 26/11 victim.....U desperately want to make some money!!!!!
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Jun 01, 2012 03:50pm
are you specifically talking about the world cup semi-final?
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Jun 01, 2012 03:58pm
You wanted Pakistan. You got it. Now leave us alone and please please do not preach about peace, love etc to Indians.
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Jun 01, 2012 06:22pm
Fnially, the TRUE color of Indians showed up in the various posts here.
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Jun 02, 2012 11:43pm
The moderator should work harder to remove posts by trolls who takes pride in posting irreverent and abusive comments hiding behind their computer screen.
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