Pakistan warn against too many India matches

Shaharyar Khan: 'We are concerned that an excess of such games could lead to a drop in interest among the public' © Getty Images Enlarge

Shaharyar Khan, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, has added his voice to those expressing concern over the number of international fixtures, warning that more matches could lead to player burnout and dwindling interest. He said he was particular worried about too many games against India.

"We are going to be very careful and selective on the number of matches we play against India, especially at off shore venues," he told Reuters. "The motivating factor for having more matches against India is obviously money, but we are concerned that an excess of such games could lead to a drop in interest among the public.

"Already we are playing against each other too much and the marketing returns are lower when we first played in 2004."

Those comments appear to clash with the views held by the Indian board, who earlier this month sold media rights for off-shore matches for $217 million, with fixtures against Pakistan being key to the appeal of those.

"Every corner of the world wants to host India and Pakistan matches but for us finance is not the only consideration," Shaharyar said. "We will be very selective about our future matches with India at off-shore venues. We have already told them we don't want to play at neutral venues in the year we play a bilateral series."

Pakistan have played nine Tests and 22 ODIs against India in the last three years. Their most recent two games took place in Abu Dhabi earlier this week. They are scheduled to tour India in 2007 for a full Test and one-day tour.