India given deadline to spell out policy

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has set India an April 30 deadline to spell out its sports policy with Pakistan, Indian media reported.

The ICC chairman Malcolm Gray, currently touring India, set the deadline after his meetings with Home Minister L.K Advani on Friday and Foreign Minister Yaswant Singh on Thursday.

"It would be difficult for ICC to reschedule the international calendar if the Indian government persisted with its decision of not allowing its team to play Pakistan," Gray was quoted as saying. "We must have an answer by April 30," he emphasised.

According to the 10-year program, Pakistan has been drawn to play India in six Test series' with an equal number of home and away tours.

The ICC chief, however, was dumb-founded when inquired what the game's governing body could do if India showed no flexibility in its recent policy. The ICC has already said that India would not be fined or penalized if it doesn't play Pakistan because of its loophole constitutional powers.

India earlier this year cancelled a scheduled tour to Pakistan for three Tests and as many One-day Internationals which resulted in a heavy $15million loss to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

The PCB officials had all the reasons to be annoyed because their team's 1999 tour to India had fetched the traditional rivals over $50 million through sponsorships and television rights.

Pakistan won two Test out of three, including the Kolkata Test which was part of the Asian Test Championship won by Wasim Akram's men at Dhaka.

Gray said New Delhi's refusal to play Pakistan would have no bearing on the allotment of the ICC knockout tournament proposed there next year. "Not at all," he replied asked whether ICC would refuse to stage tournaments in India. "It is an altogether separate matter." He, however, added: "We must be assured that if a tournament is organised in India, all nations are able to play in it."

Indian government has yet to give a go-ahead to its team for next month's Sharjah Cup starting April 8 and also involving Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Indian media, however, has been speculating that the request would be turned down.

On another front, there are reported that the organizers of the Sharjah Cup have offered Pakistan double the appearance money if they pull out of the tournament. The PCB, however, has continued to deny receiving any such offer.

Gray told the media that the issue of India's participation in Sharjah tri-series did not come up for discussions. "It is not a matter of ICC. It is for the governments to decide on the foreign policy of a country and ICC realises they (the governments) have to take into account enormous amounts of considerations."

The Pakistan government's sports policy is foolproof and sporting. Islamabad has no objection of whatsoever in playing India anywhere in the world. It would not be out of context to mention here that chairman of the PCB Lt Gen Tauqir Zia had also offered India to host Pakistan for three Tests and three one-dayers in January-February this year. But he received no response from his counterparts.