India's intransigence puts the world cricket in jeopardy

In a recent meeting of the Asian Cricket Foundation held in Lahore, it was decided to hold a series of four one-day matches between Pakistan, India and Bangladesh at Sharjah to raise funds for India's earthquake victims. In the meeting presided by Jagmohan Dalmia former Chairman of the ICC, the representative of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Sharad Diwadkar assured the delegates by saying, "we have received permission from all quarters, the trip to Sharjah is very much on".

Apart from a fund raising campaign for India, the tournament was supposed to be a happy meeting between India and Pakistan since the Asia Cup in Dhaka last May. A proper announcement to this effect was made and the preparations began, so much so that the organizers started fighting against time to get sponsors and sell the television rights, providing the assurance that everything would be in place before the first ball was bowled. While Pakistan delayed the departure of its team to New Zealand to fulfill the commitment that had a deep humanitarian touch, the BCCI also postponed the national team's camp scheduled to start in Madras, to enable the series to go ahead. Even the Selection Committee was told to select the squad to participate in the event.

The Indian government then claimed that the projected financial relief of a million dollars for the earthquake victims carried no value. To everybody's dismay there followed a statement from India's Sports Minister Uma Bharti that "There was no need to play matches against Pakistan in Sharjah or anywhere in the world".

It was the fourth successive time that India had cancelled a cricket series against Pakistan.

It was generally believed that India was reluctant to play against Pakistan on the Indo-Pakistan soil only while the matches on neutral grounds would continue. With such a stand from the Indian government, hopes of maintaining cricket relations between the two Asian giants have been dashed.

Admiring the exuberance of cricket fans in India, Pakistan's former captain Wasim Akram urged them to pressurize New Delhi to allow matches between the two countries for love of the game. The stance of the Indian government, however, appears too rigid. The politicians do not understand the extent of the damage the policy will cause to Asian cricket. The Asia Cup, the Asian championship of test cricket and other tournaments scheduled for the year will disappear from the scene, putting in jeopardy all the progress that Asia was making in the field of cricket.

India's intransigence is bound to adversely affect the standards of cricket in India as well. The international cricket calendar is formulated at the ICC with a 10-year program involving all test-playing countries. Since a lot of money is involved in the form of sponsorship, television rights, advertising, marketing and ticketing for each series, one country refusing to play the other causes colossal financial damage to its opponent.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided not to approve the ICC's 10-year plan unless adequate guarantees are provided. After India's constant refusal to play against Pakistan, the PCB was perhaps left with no choice. According to the program, India and Pakistan are supposed to meet each other at least four times during the next ten years. In case India refuses every time, Pakistan would be the sufferer.

Is it not a violation of ICC's authority that India makes a mockery of its program, rendering Pakistan the victim of embarrassment as well as financial loss to the tune of millions of dollars? Let us hope the ICC takes serious notice of the situation in its next meeting. I would suggest that written guarantees should be obtained from India and in case of a violation, its team be scratched from the whole program.