Zaka unperturbed over tour concerns

Wants provincial, federal govt to work together.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Zaka Ashraf, whose efforts since taking charge, prompted hopes of international cricket’s revival in the country, remained unperturbed over concerns shown by several Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officials and players over the tour.

“Bangladesh have confirmed and hopefully they’ll come on April 28,” Ashraf told reporters in Lahore. “We are thankful to the BCB for this and I request the Punjab government and the Federal government to play their role and make this tour a success. It’s not only important for the country’s cricket but the return of international cricket in Pakistan will help everyone in many ways. Hopefully, the tour will break the ice for future tours.”

Ashraf also hoped that the International Cricket Council (ICC) will endorse the tour and send its officials. The ICC has, however, sought a detailed security plan which the PCB is yet to send. According to PCB officials, there was lack of coordination between the Punjab government and the Federal government which are being led by rival political parties.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif welcomed the news of the tour but said that the Federal government was not coordinating on making the required arrangements.

Meanwhile, the PCB chairman also hoped for the revival of Pakistan-India bilateral series, saying that he had useful meetings with the Indian board chief N Srinivasan on the sidelines of the ICC meeting in Dubai.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 19^th, 2012.