India will host Pakistan for three One-dayers and Twenty20 Internationals in December-January, reviving cricketing ties amongst the arch-rivals after a gap of five years.
The matches will be played in between England’s November-January series in India when the tourists return home for 15 days for the Christmas break, according to an agreement between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Briefing the media after the Board’s working committee meeting here Monday, BCCI spokesman Rajiv Shukla said New Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai are the venues for the ODIs and Bangalore and Ahmedabad will host the T20 matches.
“PCB have repeatedly asked us for the resumptions of ties and we have agreed to it. The public wants to see the the two countries playing against eaching other,” Shukla told reporters here.
The foreign secretaries of two countries had discussed the revival of cricketing ties at their meeting here earlier this month.
Asked about the Indian government’s approval of the Pakistan tour, Shukla said he had already spoken to the concerned ministry officials on the matter.
“I have already spoken to Home Minister P. Chidambaram and he has no objections, and neither does the ministry of external affairs. Even after the Kargil War, and the 1965 and 1971 wars, Pakistani cricket teams toured India.”
The series will be played when England go back home for the Christmas break after playing four Tests and two T20 matches in November-December and before they return for the five-match one-day series in January.
The two neighbouring countries last played in 2007-8 when Pakistan toured India. India were to play in Pakistan in 2009 but the tour was cancelled in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack in 2008. No international team has toured Pakistan after the attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in 2009.
“It was decided to resume cricketing ties with Pakistan by inviting the Pakistan cricket team for a short series in December 2012-January 2013. The modalities will be worked out shortly,” said BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale in a statement.
Reacting to the BCCI’s announcement, PCB chief Zaka Ashraf told the Pakistani media that it was a welcome step.
“I am glad this has come through,” Ashraf said.
“Negotiations were on for quite sometime and both the boards worked hard to make it happen. It is certainly a good news even from the business point of view.
“I had a fruitful chat with BCCI president N. Srinivasan and as we both come from a corporate background, we clearly understand the commercial aspects of an Indo-Pak series,” he said.
Ashraf said the first step towards resuming the ties was inviting Pakistan T20 Champions Sialkot Stallions for the Champions League.
“Stallions were invited. That was the first step. Now this is a further development,” said the PCB chief.
Talking about the financial aspect, Shukla made it clear that the host board BCCI won’t be sharing the series’ revenue with PCB.
The announcement drew contrasting reactions from the cricket fraternity of India and Pakistan. While Pakistan’s Zaheer Abbas and Aamir Sohail expressed happiness on the news while India Sunil Gavaskar questioned the timing of the series.
My first reaction is that the time the free time players would have had between the England series, it is not going to be there anymore,” Gavaskar told NDTV.
“They are playing a strong side like England in November-December and now they are not going to get a breather between the Test and one-day matches. Players need the time to look after their injuries and get better,” he added.
Indo-Pak cricketing ties are set for revival with the BCCI on Monday agreeing to play three ODIs and two T20 matches between the two arch-rivals, who have not played each other in a bilateral series for close to five years. The decision to resume cricketing ties with Pakistan was taken by the Board’s powerful Working Committee, which met in New Delhi on Monday, evoking mixed reactions from former cricketers and fans from both countries.
“It was decided to resume cricketing ties with Pakistan by inviting the Pakistan cricket team for a short series in December 2012–January 2013. The modalities will be worked out shortly,” the BCCI said in a statement after the meeting.
Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi will be the venues for the one-dayers while Bangalore and Ahmedabad will host the two T20 matches. The series will be played in December-January.
“The BCCI Working Committee today (Monday) decided to resume the India vs Pakistan cricket ties inviting them in the third week
of December to play three ODIs and two T20 matches,” said senior BCCI official Rajeev Shukla.
“BCCI was firm on its stand that no Indo-Pak series will be held on any neutral venue so it was decided to invite them after December 22 when the England team leaves after playing the Twenty20 Internationals.
The BCCI has scheduled the short series when England returns from its tour of India for the Christmas break.
“This was the slot where the tour could have been accommodated and we did that accordingly. I have spoken to home minister, P Chidambaram and he has said that there is no objection on the part of the ministry. The ministry of external affairs (MEA) has also agreed on having this tour,” said Shukla.
The ties had been snapped after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and there have been several attempts by the Pakistan Cricket Board in recent months to convince the BCCI for a resumption as the contests featuring the two arch-rivals are a huge hit with fans and generate good revenue.
India and Pakistan last played in a bilateral series in November 2007. The series was clinched 3-2 by India.
“The PCB has been very persistent over the past fews years on resuming cricketing ties with Pakistan and if you remember we have also played against Pakistan even after 1971 war and after 1999 Kargil war…we have played a series in Pakistan,” Shukla said.
Questioned whether this created a window of opportunity for the Indian team to travel to Pakistan, Shukla said, “Until the security situation in that country is conducive, there is absolutely no question of India travelling to Pakistan.”
The PCB was keen on hosting India to end the international isolation that came with the 2009 Lahore terror attack on Sri Lankan cricketers.
But with the BCCI reluctant to agree to such an idea because of security concerns, PCB was also willing to play on neutral venue.
The resumption of cricket ties also got a boost after the foreign secretaries of both the countries asserted that sporting relations should be strengthened.
The thaw in the relations was evident much earlier when the BCCI invited Pakistan’s domestic Twenty20 champion Sialkot Stallions to participate in the Qualifying Tournament of Champions League Twenty20 to be held in South Africa later this year.
During the recent visit of PCB chief Zaka Ashraf to India and at last month’s ICC and Asian Cricket Council meetings in Malaysia, there had been discussions between officials of both the Boards on the matter.
The process actually started last year during the World Cup semifinal clash between the two sides in Mohali where Prime Ministers of both the countries were present and even met each other on the sidelines.
While some of the former cricketers hailed the decision, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar questioned the “urgency” to revive ties with Pakistan.
PTI