LAHORE, Dec 18: Following the Indian cricketing authorities’ refusal to send their national team to Pakistan for next month’s tour by announcing that the ‘tour is not feasible at this time’, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) made a swift contact with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) for a replacement tour early next year.
On Thursday, the PCB received an email from the BCCI that their government has refused to give clearance to the Indian team to visit Pakistan. Soon after receiving the communication from the BCCI, the PCB invited Sri Lanka to play three Test matches, three One-day Internationals and one Twenty20 International.
“The decision of the BCCI is obviously disappointing as the people will be deprived of an exciting contest between the two countries,” PCB’s Chief Operating Officer Saleem Altaf told reporters while announcing the decisions. “But the PCB has invited Sri Lanka to visit Pakistan in place of India and hopefully they will respond positively,” the COO said.
“As the SLC chairman [Arjuna Ranatunga] has already expressed willingness for the tour to Pakistan, the PCB is hopeful that all the modalities will be completed in a couple of days to give green signals to the series,” Saleem said.
If Sri Lanka agrees to tour, Pakistan will be playing Test cricket after a yawning gap of 15 months since South Africa’s visit here in October 2007.
The SLC is likely to confirm the tour on Friday after ascertaining the availability of their players who are currently touring Bangladesh for a mini Test series.
According to the proposed itinerary, the Sri Lankans will land in Karachi on Jan 19. The two teams will play a Twenty20 tie and an ODI in Karachi and would then reach Lahore to play back-to-back ODIs and the first Test there. The second Test will be held in Multan and the last one in Karachi.
Meanwhile, Saleem said though India did not mention any specific reason for cancelling the tour, the BCCI quoted its Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee advising them that the ‘tour was not feasible at this time and it could be held sometime in future’.
The mounting political tension between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Nov 26 Mumbai mayhem is, apparently, the major reason behind Indian government’s decision of cancelling the tour. The Indian officials even ignored PCB’s proposal of playing at a neutral venue like Abu Dhabi or Malaysia.
However, it is likely the PCB will raise the issue with the International Cricket Council (ICC) and to ask for some compensation for the mishap.
According to the ICC rules, the PCB will pay to Sri Lanka a sum of $150,000 for each one-dayer and $200,000 for each of the three Tests.
The board is likely to make around $275,000 from the TV broadcasting rights for each game against the Sri Lankans.
Agencies add: Saleem said the tour cancellation (by India) would cause serious financial harm to the sport in Pakistan.
“We can safely say that it will be a loss of $25-30 million, but I fear it could be more because in our TV rights deal, tours by Indian teams are priced very high, higher than Australia and England,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ijaz Butt, PCB Chairman, said the BCCI decision would damage Pakistan cricket.
“We have just received an e-mail from the BCCI President Shashank Manohar in which he conveyed the Indian government’s decision not to send the team,” Ijaz said.
“We take this decision as disappointing — something which will hurt Pakistan cricket badly – but it was beyond our control.”
India were scheduled to play three Tests, five One-day Internationals and a Twenty20 International during the five-week tour.
“Their [India’s] e-mail has put an end to all our efforts to convince them to tour, and now I hope that situation will improve so that bilateral ties are revived, which is very important for the region,” added Ijaz.