Houston exhibition postponed

A three-match exhibition series in Houston, featuring leading players from India and Pakistan, has had to be postponed after organisers failed to arrange for visas for several Pakistani players. The games had been scheduled for June 16, 18 and 19, and Hasan Jalil, the main organiser, told The News that the contests between an Asian XI and a World XI would most likely be slotted in between June 30 and July 3, a long weekend in the United States.

Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh were among the stars signed up from India, while Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik and Yousuf Youhana had pledged their participation from Pakistan.

"We are disappointed that because of this last-minute hitch in getting visas for the Pakistani players, the matches have to be rescheduled," said Jalil. "We will now try to secure visas for the Pakistani players from Islamabad. There is no such problem with the Indian players as they have visas for the US."