Dalmiya pours cold water on desert clash

Eager fans and businessmen might have to wait a bit longer before India and Pakistan meet again on a cricket field. Jagmohan Dalmiya, the president of the BCCI, has poured cold water on attempts to stage such a fixture in Abu Dhabi to inaugurate the Zayed Stadium. "There won't be any match," Dalmiya is quoted as saying in an agency report that appeared in The Times of India newspaper.

Private organizers in Abu Dhabi were hoping to stage an exhibition match between India and Pakistan on May 14, but it now appears that they will have to be content with a veterans match. Dalmiya and the cricket board have been against the idea from the beginning, and refused to release any of the current Indian cricketers for the US$ 100,000 event.

The whole matter took a more serious turn when Dalmiya snubbed the organizers by refusing to even meet them. BR Shetty and Ravi Pandit of the Abu Dhabi Cricket Association waited in vain for three days, but Dalmiya steadfastly refused to grant them an appointment. "I tried speaking to Dalmiya after coming here, but he refused to speak to me on the matter," said Shetty. "I am still hopeful that the match will go ahead, but let's see who takes part."

A frustrated Pandit added that four Indian cricketers had agreed to play the match. "We met during the Rawalpindi Test earlier this month and four Indian players gave us a confirmation along with 14 Pakistan cricketers," he said. "So we thought everything was confirmed and that's why we held a press conference in Abu Dhabi to announce the match."

Pandit had not banked on Dalmiya's position on the matter. "I don't know anything about this and I don't have any appointment with Abu Dhabi officials," said Dalmiya. That might very well be the last we hear about current Indian cricketers playing in the United Arab Emirates this summer.

In stark contrast, Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, has expressed his eagerness to play ball. "We know cricket is very popular in the UAE and [we] are most happy to play there in front of our fans," he told the Gulf News. But following the Indian board's negative response, even he is left wondering whether this match will ever get off the ground.