India-Pak cricket series all but cancelled

Indian High Commission sources said in Islamabad on Wednesday that India is not willing to play the upcoming cricket series against Pakistan even at a neutral venue.

The Indian team is scheduled to tour Pakistan early next year for three Tests, a Twenty20 International and five One-day internationals.

'The Dawn' quoted Indian High Commission source as saying, "Under the present circumstances and the recent 'Mumbai mayhem' playing sports with Pakistan at any level is impossible".

The PCB faces an extreme difficulty to convince their counterparts in India for the upcoming series in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

The Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI), he said, is waiting for the ''yes'' or a ''no'' from the Indian government but chances for a ''no'' are much higher.

Pakistani people, he said, may see Indian team in action only if the strained diplomatic relations between the two arch-rival countries inch towards normalization.

''Terrorists have attacked at the heart of Indian financial capital city Mumbai and people in India have their firm belief that playing with Pakistan may not heal their wounds even through the game of cricket.''

''The government is not even willing to send the security experts to Pakistan so they can clear the security doubts prevailing here'' he said.

A top PCB official based in Lahore on condition of anonymity informed, ''We have not received any written document from the BCCI for the cancellation of scheduled cricket series until now and if it's cancelled the board may run into serious financial trouble as the losses will be in billions".

The PCB, he said, would seek the intervention of ICC as this would be a clear violation of ICC Future Tours Programs (FTP).

The official added that Sri Lanka is willing to tour Pakistan in case Indians take a U-turn on their scheduled tour due next year.

We're not going to play in Pakistan, there's absolutely no chance of that.

Neutral venue is something that can be thought of, but I doubt the govt. will give the green light, not until a few months pass.

Tendulkar and Dravid both have really heavy security, don't they?

The PCB, he said, would seek the intervention of ICC as this would be a clear violation of ICC Future Tours Programs (FTP).

They'd run short of time for approaching ICC on this matter as practically every other country has decided to give Pak tour a miss, bar probably SLC who too is known for flip flops.

This news is official now.

To hell with Pak, we shouldn't be doing ANY business with them till they hand over the wanted criminals and go straight by shutting down the ISI and the jihadis. Pak will go down the road to hell much faster then they think if they keep covering up for these 'non-state actors', even more so now. The Mumbai act just accelerated the downhill rush.Their Road to Perdition will be drenched with their own blood.

BCCI should hang their heads in shame [not that they ever had any] if after all this turmoil, playing cricket with Pak is still their first priority. I think the 1999-2004 days of playing only the World Cup matches is upon us for the next 5 years at least. And what will the ICC do? Force the Indian Govt. to allow BCCI to play Pak? ICC has no jurisdiction over matters pertaining to sovereign Govts. and can neither make India play, nor make them pay compensation and they have said there is nothing they can do if India won't tour for political reasons.

Enemity & Friendship cannot go together hand in hand.
Better to have an open enemy than a false friend.

SG wrote:This news is official now.

Great news on 2 counts.

First reason is obvious.

Second, Indian players can now play in business stages of Ranji trophy. Great news for Indian domestic cricket.

SG wrote:The PCB, he said, would seek the intervention of ICC as this would be a clear violation of ICC Future Tours Programs (FTP).

not at all. if the GoI stops the bcci its not something the icc can take action against

a tour was impossible at this stage, especially since there has been no positive movement from pakistan so far. just the same old glib talk

Batman wrote:BCCI should hang their heads in shame [not that they ever had any] if after all this turmoil, playing cricket with Pak is still their first priority.

they cant show that they themselves were refusing. it would invite sanctions. since the head of the bcci is a senior union minister the bcci probably knew a week or two ago that this tour is not happening. they were probably waiting to see if the pakistanis made any positive moves

Another reason for this being great news could be that atleast now Pak fans can desist from their usual habit of accusing us of chickening out of playing against Pak due to fear of defeat. Something which they've been accusing us for all of '90s.

This excuse is as lame as it gets.

who cares what some idiots think anyways. you cant change their opinion

The One wrote:

SG wrote:The PCB, he said, would seek the intervention of ICC as this would be a clear violation of ICC Future Tours Programs (FTP).

not at all. if the GoI stops the bcci its not something the icc can take action against

a tour was impossible at this stage, especially since there has been no positive movement from pakistan so far. just the same old glib talk

Indeed.

Just goes to show how ignorant PCB folks are if they're threatening to go to ICC for this matter. ICC couldn't force India to play Pak for most of '90s due to GoI not sanctioning it.

If they (ICC and PCB) couldn't do it then how come PCB hope ICC to intervene in this matter when BCCI is probably at its strongest.

The One wrote:who cares what some idiots think anyways. you cant change their opinion

I agree. Still I feel GoI's decision would probably act as a slap on their faces.

SG wrote:

SG wrote:This news is official now.

Great news on 2 counts.

First reason is obvious.

Second, Indian players can now play in business stages of Ranji trophy. Great news for Indian domestic cricket.

Oh I'm really excited. Sachin has already said that he is very keen to play the quarter final for Mumbai. If Mumbai reaches semis, then Zaheer can join as well. And if Delhi too manages to win its last league match, then Sehwag, Gambhir and Ishant can join in too.

In that case any Mumbai vs Delhi would be delicious : Sehwag and Gambhir vs Zaheer while Sachin vs Ishant!

Great prospect this, Chandan.

sachin and zaheer both will play the quarters on the 26th. if this tour does not happen then they will (hopefully) be playing the semis and finals as well. could be a great ranji year this one

Haven't you guys got a war to kick off before any cricket takes place ?

a valuable contribution from merlin as usual

The One wrote:sachin and zaheer both will play the quarters on the 26th. if this tour does not happen then they will (hopefully) be playing the semis and finals as well. could be a great ranji year this one

Won't it be tough for them? They'll finish this test on 23rd and play a match on 26th?

thats what the papers say. the bombay team management seems to confirm this

if the pak tour is cancelled then they will surely play as they dont need to factor in a rest period for the tour

SG wrote:Another reason for this being great news could be that atleast now Pak fans can desist from their usual habit of accusing us of chickening out of playing against Pak due to fear of defeat. Something which they've been accusing us for all of '90s.

This excuse is as lame as it gets.

Given that India has now won 2 test series [home and away] against Pak, beaten them in the WC and T20 WC matches and reciprocant one day series as well home and away, did this kind of accusations exist since after the year 2003? I haven't read or heard it anywhere since we won away in 2004. Or isn't it the fact that of late the pressure is on Pak to perform and that their fans accuse them of playing like chickens against India?

The One wrote:a valuable contribution from merlin as usual

Thank you.

Shouldn't you guys not be playing England due to our 'illegal war in Iraq'?

Bit hypocritical of the Injuns methinks....

??

what does india have to do with iraq? pakistani militants terrorising bombay is a totally different matter. make no mistake - what happened in bombay was an act of war