BCCI 'knows nothing' about proposed UAE match

The proposed Abu Dhabi match does not have Dalmiya's blessings © AFP

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has denied granting permission for India's cricketers to play against a Pakistan XI at Abu Dhabi later this month. Media reports suggested that Indian and Pakistani elevens featuring current and former cricketers would play against each other at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi for a prize money of US$ 100,000. However, Jagmohan Dalmiya, the board president, has said, "I don't know anything about it, I don't know who is going and who is not."

SK Nair, the secretary of the board, echoed Dalmiya's thoughts in a press release from Thiruvananthapuram. "The BCCI has not accorded its approval for any such match," he said, adding that the BCCI was unlikely to release any player to take part in the proposed match.

An agency report that appeared in The Times of India said that a board source had indicated that officials from Abu Dhabi had privately requested several Indian and Pakistani cricketers to take part in the event. The report added that the organisers stressed the fact that this was not an official ODI.

The Indian government in conjunction with the BCCI had prohibited India from playing cricket in the United Arab Emirates on the suggestion that matchfixing was rife in the tournaments conducted in Sharjah. India have not played an official ODI in UAE since 2000.