India agrees to break 12-year-old deadlock

India will break a 12-year deadlock of playing Test cricket in Pakistan this September after being drawn to meet their traditional rivals in the second round match of the Asian Test Championship.

The championship, which will run between Sept 1 and Feb 19, will see India playing Pakistan between Sept 13 and 17 on a venue which is still undecided.

Karachi, nevertheless, is being tipped as favorite to stage the showdown between the two Asian neighboring cricket giants which will end India's four refusals to cross borders for Test matches. The latest was earlier this year which incurred a $15million loss to the Pakistan Cricket Board.

India's last Test tour to Pakistan was way back in 1989-90 when Kris Srikkanth team held Imran's men to a 0-0 draw in the four-Test series. Sachin Tendulkar, who made his debut at Karachi in 1989-90, skippered the Indians for a three-match one-day series in 1997 to mark the independence of Pakistan.

While India's foolish and unsporting policies strained relations between the two countries, Pakistan toured India in 1999 for a three- Test series which was curtailed to two Tests with the third considered as the inaugural Asian Test Championship fixture.

Pakistan won at Chennai but lost at New Delhi. Nevertheless, they defeated India in the championship match at Kolkata in near silence after nearly 90,000 spectators were evacuated following riots and clashes as India edged towards an unexpected defeat.

The draws of the Asian Test Championship were finalized and released after the Asian Cricket Council (ICC) meeting here on Friday. The meeting was presided over by Pakistan Cricket Board and ACC chairman Lt Gen Tauqir Zia.

The format was released after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president A.C. Muthiah presented a no-objection letter from his government for playing against Pakistan in multilateral series.

Gen Tauqir Zia said if India fulfilled Pakistan's condition to play first in Pakistan, we would have no objection in sending teams to India to revive cricketing relation with the neighboring country.

He said cricketing authorities and the players of both the countries were willing to play against each other but there were some political hurdles in the way of revival of the relations.

He said before the Indian team's visit, Pakistan would play at home against Bangladesh in the inaugural match of the competition from Sept 1 to 5.

He said the dates of Pakistan vs Bangladesh and Pakistan vs India matches were confirmed the dates of the remaining games were tentative.

The PCB boss said that Pakistan would also host the Asia Cup in September 2002.

Sept 1-5: Pakistan vs Bangladesh in Pakistan.

Sept 13-17: Pakistan vs India in Pakistan.

Sept 21-25: India vs Bangladesh in India.

Oct 2-6: Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh, Sri Lanka.

Jan 31-Feb 4: Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, Sri Lanka.

Feb 7-11: India vs Sri Lanka in India.

Feb 15-19: Final in Bangladesh.

Lt-Gen Tauqir Zia said the four Asian Test nations would sign an agreement which would bind them to follow the programme once decided and finalized.

He said the country not fulfilling the commitment, would be contractually bound to pay the penalty. The Asian Cricket Foundation (ACF) chairman Jaghmohan Dalmiya, a former International Cricket Council chairman, said that documents in this regard would be ready for signatures by the respective board within the next two months.

He said the step would validate the activities among the four Test playing nations and would save them from suffering heavy losses.

Development plans: The ACC approved the development plans of the ACF which was aimed at to promote cricket in the Asian region, Tauqir Zia said.

He said a central academy for Asia would be set up either at Sharjah, Nepal or Malaysia. The Under-15, Under-16 and 17 cricket programmes of the AFC till 2004 had been approved by the ACC.

A curator from New Zealand would be hired to improve the pitches in Asia. Similarly, seminar on pitches, coaching, umpiring would be held.

He said five appointments would be made, including a development manager, three officials and one consultant, who would be responsible to promote cricket in United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Nepal, Maldives, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.

The appointments would be made after holding interviews with the candidates. All the five officials would be from Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka.

He said the ACC would also form its own Anti-Corruption Unit to look into the affairs of match-fixing.