KARACHI: The invitation sent to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Zaka Ashraf to watch the IPL final is one of the steps to remove the widespread ‘misconception’ that India is against Pakistan, according to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vice-president and the IPL chief Rajiv Shukla.
The BCCI, which approved Pakistan’s entry in this year’s Champions League, invited Ashraf to watch the final on Sunday, over a year after Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was invited by his Indian counterpart to watch the 2011 World Cup semi-final between the arch-rivals.
The BCCI was accused of sidelining Pakistan with former International Cricket Council chief Ehsan Mani being the most vocal among other former administrators and cricketers.
“The invitation is a goodwill gesture from the BCCI telling the world that we’re not against Pakistan or trying to sideline the PCB,” Shukla told The Express Tribune. “We’ve also appointed umpires, commentators and coaches from Pakistan in the IPL which shows exactly that. Apart from that, officials from both boards are in constant touch and we share a healthy relationship.”
Revival of bilateral series depends on talks
Meanwhile, the IPL invitation has left the PCB chief excited and hopeful of a revival of bilateral series, one of Ashraf’s main targets since taking over from Ijaz Butt last year. Ashraf will meet the BCCI chief N Srinavasan but Shukla said that commenting on a revival will be premature.
“As far as resumption of the bilateral series is concerned, there may be some hurdles like the FTP schedule. But we’ll have to wait until the talks between the chiefs before thinking ahead.”
The BCCI official also refused to comment on Ashraf’s view that India could be asked to host the Pakistan-Australia limited-overs series for which the PCB still has no venue. Ashraf, earlier this week, confirmed that he will be speaking to the BCCI on the idea after Sri Lanka confirmed it was unable to host the series due to the inaugural edition of its Twenty20 league.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2012.
COMMENTS (9)
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@abs: the simple truth is that Pakistanis have turned their society into one which is now an icon for everything bad in humankind. No country, including India, would be willing to let it's players "die" just to give a false sense of normalcy to the world about Pakistan. Fix the easly fixable problems of terrorism first before having unrealistic expectations. If your leaders are not willing to fix the fixable, create a Pakistan spring or something of that sort.
@abs what a lot of paranoia, nobody wants play in Pakistan because you have made your country a heaven for terrorists. Incidentally why don't you get your facts right, a court in BD ordered that their team should not go to Pakistan. as for India, no one in IPL will take your players because The people who invest in those teams are not interested I. Having Pakustani player there. Why ? because they want to be sure that their investments pay off, and what is the guarantee that some terrorist attack from Pakistani soil wil not happen again and your players will be kicked out by Indian govt or held back by PCB.even worse the public in India will or want Pakustani players after such incidents. It's our right whom to hire and whom not to ,you guys are just frustrated and jealous
Belive it or not..india wil tour pakistan 4 sure...india is financial superpower in world cricket...if india tour pak dt means otha major cricketng nation wil tour pak dts d reasn pcb wants ind-pak bilateral series..and the gud news is cumng dt next yr ipl hav pak players..
@abs: Haven't. You earned your image perception, you get what you deserve. Stop sending terrorist to kill our ppl we are not dying to have relation with Pakistan, you have choice either you respect the other countries values or face meltdown, your black mailing ain't going to work
who cares,,,,
@abs: BCCI hosted the 1996 world cup jointly with Pakistan and 2011 was supposed to be jointly with Pakistan again till Sri Lankan cricketers were attacked and subsequently ICC members withdrew from matches in Pakistan. If BCCI/Indian government undermined or wanted to undermine Pakistan, they wouldn't host matches jointly. There's no shortage of stadiums in India. Nor there's shortage of money. Everybody knows that. It is for sheer goodwill that they offered to do it jointly with Pak & SL. Yet, people like you conveniently forget it. If Aussies/Britian/SA don't want to go to Pak, it's ok. If B'desh expresses displeasure, it is because of BCCI?
Nice joke, move on please!!! that is only lip servicing. even Gilani was called for watching semi final of World Cup but that is all irrelevant. Forget about your own tour to Pakistan or getting Pakistani players for IPL, you made sure even Bangladesh does not come to Pakistan by offering a series at the time when they decided to visit here and they fell into your trap. All of a sudden they started to feel insecure in Pakistan, where as we have 3 million of them living illegaly. There is a given fact tht since partition thr has been so much negativity / anti Pakistan sentiments at India side tht general public has nothing but hatered for Pakistan. Your media is in forefront of spreading ths negativity and ofcourse there is general tendency of pple accepting what they are told. I have been to India personally my family lives there are I have felt it myself so do not tell me ths is only a misconception. Conditions on this side of border is similar but not bad as its on India side. Even we love indian team losing cricket match but we never want innocent pple to die in the name of patriotism. Pple like Hafiz Saeed and Bal Thackeray are trained nuts and have their own agendas they are not from us. Nothing between India / Pakistan would improve unless pple on both sides come to the front stop media from spreading non sense, require politicians to have this in their menifesto that ties with India will be improved as better as Pakistan has it with China and India has it with Russia. We never consider who are the beneficiaries on both sides when two nations fight. Its 4 star generals in army who get high budget allocations and other nations like US / Israel / Russia who want us to keep fighting for ever to benefit their interests in the region.
India will tour Pakistan ? Not in your dreams. No player wants to be kidnapped by Taliban for Ransom and end up without a head!
Only india can revive cricket in pakistan..how?simple india wil tour pak soon i.e 110% sure.