Hasan Masood: "ICC will benefit most" says Asif (18 Jul 1998)

18 July 1998

"ICC will benefit most" says Asif

By Hasan Masood

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is expecting to raise more than a million dollars for its development programme fund from the forthcoming Wills International Cup to be held in Dhaka from October 24 to November 4.

This is according to former Pakistan captain and event manager of the knockout tournament, Asif Iqbal who gave an exclusive interview to The Daily Star at his hotel suite yesterday.

The bespectacled cricketer of yesteryear, who arrived on Wednesday to assess preparations at the Dhaka Stadium for the nine-nation mega event, is due to leave today.

Following is the excerpts of the cogitation:

DS: The main idea of holding the Wills International Cup is to raise money for the ICC development fund. What is your expectation in this regard?

Asif: I think it will be in millions of dollars because of the title sponsorship along with other sponsorships. I don't know the exact figure till it happens. But it is expected to reach more than a million.

DS: We have gathered that the ICC is also investing a lot for the event?

Asif: In fact, the tournament is an ICC tournament. They are the ones who have come up with this concept of a knockout cup. This has been devised by the ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya. He believes that there is financial promise in cricket and funds can be raised by organising such tournaments. This money will help in globalising the game because at the moment not too many countries are playing the game. The ICC will benefit most from this tournament of the teams. They are bearing all the expenses of the meet.

DS: How will Bangladesh benefit from this tournament?

Asif: Bangladesh will be benefited by the exposure it will get with all the countries coming and playing here. By installing floodlights and electronic scoreboard, which are very expensive, both the government and the cricket board are showing their commitment to improving the game's infrastructure. Through the extensive media coverage, your country will get exposure all over the world. Different countries are coming to play cricket here. Obviously they will have their supporters. People will come from different countries to support their teams. The culture of Bangladesh will get exposed during the meet. In addition, local cricket will also gain because there will be at least two one-day internationals between Bangladesh and two other teams who will be eliminated from the tournament.

DS: Have ICC finalised the fixture of the tournament?

Asif: Neither the format nor the seedings have been finalised yet. It will be based on the present world rankings of the nine Test playing nations. We will reveal the format and the logo of the meet at the end of July.

DS: We have applied for the Test status. What are your views?

Asif: There is every likelihood that your country could get Test status in a year or two.

DS: In that case don't you think we need to play longer version of cricket?

Asif: You have to. There is no doubt about it. I think you have the infrastructure. You have got playing facilities, you have got good players. So I am pretty confident that Bangladesh will get Test status soon.

DS: What was your main objective during this visit?

Asif: Well, it was the lights, the scoreboard and also the preparation of the practice wickets. One of the pre conditions for such a big event is practice facilities. We have Phil Russell from Durban as our curator and he also seems to be very satisfied with the preparations of the venues.

DS: Did you supervise the lighting?

Asif: Yes, I saw it. The work is going on. I have talked with Siemens and they have given me the report.They are very confident of completing the installation of lights as per schedule.

DS: What was the reason behind bringing this tournament from Sharjah to Dhaka?

Asif: The major reason was tobacco sponsorship. In Sharjah, Government rules does not permit tobacco sponsorship.

DS: There is a growing speculation here that Dhaka is going to be treated as an international venue only like Sharjah ...

Asif: Well, you got to understand that Dhaka cannot be Sharjah.In Sharjah, the tournaments that we have are between well established cricket powers. The UAE don't have their own team. It is not a full member of the ICC and do not have ODI status either. Whereas in Bangladesh, the home team is participating in the tournaments because they have the ODI status. I think it will be a little bit unfair to make comparisons with Sharjah because Bangladesh is a cricket playing nation from the beginning. Even as a part of Pakistan, there used to be international cricket here.

DS: Thank you for sparing some time.

Asif: My pleasure.

Source :: The Bangladesh Daily Star (https://www.dailystarnews.com)