KARACHI, Dec 4: Chiefs of Pakistan and India cricket boards will be face-to-face with each other at the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting in Colombo on Friday but PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt says the issue of the January-February bilateral series will not be discussed.
Before leaving for Colombo, Ijaz said that due to the political and diplomatic tensions between the two countries, there would be no discussion on the scheduled series on the sidelines of the ACC meeting.
Ijaz and BCCI President Shashank Manohar will attend the ACC development/finance committee meeting.
“As far as discussions on the [forthcoming] India series are concerned the Indians have confirmed a meeting in Chennai on Dec 12,” Ijaz said. “I think even the media knows that in these conditions it would be inappropriate to discuss the tour with Manohar on the sidelines of the ACC meeting.”
The PCB chief said the matter was now in the hands of the (Pakistani and Indian) governments, but added that as far as the PCB was concerned they were progressing with the preparations for the tour.
“All we can do at this stage is to assure all touring teams including India foolproof security arrangements if they come to Pakistan,” he said.
He though admitted that existing conditions could make things difficult for the series to materialise.
The Indian team can come to Pakistan only if their government gives a clearance. But after the Mumbai incident there is pressure on the Indian government to not allow any cricket ties with Pakistan at the moment.
On their tour to Pakistan, India are scheduled to play three Tests, five One-day Internationals and a Twenty20 International.
Ijaz also said Pakistan would raise the issue of the security in the region and how it threatened international cricket at the ICC Chief Executives meeting in Cape Town next week.
“We will try to convince the other members that it is time that the ICC had a uniform policy for teams not wanting to tour countries for security reasons because we can’t go without international cricket for long,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ashraful Huq, ACC Chief Executive, said the council meetings will play a key role in breaking the apparent deadlock in Pakistan-India cricket.
“We are hopeful that Dec 5 ACC Development meeting in Colombo and then the finance committee meeting in Chennai will help officials of the two boards interact and along with ACC officials we can help convince India to send its team to Pakistan,” Ashraful said.
Ashraful added that he has requested Ijaz to also attend the first day of Chennai Test between India and England to show solidarity to India, expressing: “I have always said that cricket is beyond terrorism and Asian cricket should not be hurt by such dastardly acts.”
He added it was in the best benefit of Asian cricket that Pakistan and India play regularly.
“Asian cricket thrives on Pakistan-India contests and we hope that these ties are not stalled as were in the past. Pakistan and India playing each other is a great thing for cricket in Asia in general and for world cricket in particular,” the ACC official emphasised.—Agencies