Foreign ministry cautions PCB against Ahmedabad

The Pakistan foreign ministry is understood to have advised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) against playing a game in Ahmedabad on their forthcoming tour to India, The News, a Karachi based daily, reported. The Indian board had earlier announced the itinerary for the tour, beginning on February 25, with Mohali, Ahmedabad and Bangalore as the three Test venues.

Pakistan's reluctance to play in Ahmedabad can be traced to the fact that Gujarat has been a communally sensitive state and has experienced religious tensions in the recent past. Shaharyar Khan, the PCB's chairman, said he would wait for a report from the venues inspection team, that is scheduled to visit India from January 24 to 29, before responding to the proposed venues. "These are proposed venues," Shaharyar said, "and if we have any reservations over some venues we will talk to the Indian board and our government. Before every tour there is a process of dialogue between the boards and even when India visited Pakistan last year we took into consideration their concerns."

On Saturday, activists of Shiv Sena, the Hindu nationalist party, threatened to disrupt Pakistan's ODI at Delhi. However, Shaharyar said that the PCB did not consider security as an issue and added, "We have complete faith in the Indian board's ability to oversee the security arrangements for our team in India. We will go by their assurances."

Meanwhile, Javed Miandad, the former Pakistan captain, feels that the PCB authorities would be better off if they left the entire scheduling to the Indian board but was quick to add a caveat. "This arrangement must be on a reciprocal basis between both the boards. When India next tour Pakistan they must accept the Test and one-day venues proposed by Pakistan. What Pakistan must ensure is that the match venue has adequate facilities like hotelling and ground conditions for a Test or international match.

"Obviously, Ahmedabad with its recent background is a bit of a surprise to be picked as a Test venue. But my point is that the home board should have total authority to decide at which venues a touring side should play."

Miandad was optimistic about the smooth progression of the tour and said that his recent visits to India had indicated the improvement of relations. "I don't think there is even a problem in playing at Mumbai if the Indians select it as a venue," while reiterating, "Then teams visiting Pakistan should not object to playing at Karachi or Peshawar."

Pakistan will be touring India for a full Test series since early 1999, when they played a two-Test series before contesting in one more game as part of the Asian Test Championship. The crowd response during that series touched both extremes: Pakistan received a rousing applause after completing a thrilling win at Chennai while the last few hours of the third Test, at Kolkata, was played in front of a smattering of spectators as the police were forced to drive several unruly sections away.