PCB officials unhappy at Indian pull out

Officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) who are in Calcutta to attend a meeting of the Asian Cricket Council are unhappy at the Indian government's decision to pull out the team from the Sahara Cup tournament at Toronto. Even though they were not critical of the government's decision, they termed the incident as `unfortunate'.

Mohammed Nayeem, the treasurer of the PCB said in Calcutta on Friday that the Pakistani cricketers and the Board were looking forward eagerly to the five match series. ``Our cricketers were getting ready to play your team at Toronto when we learnt of this decision. At this moment, we are just hoping that India will change its decision and participate in the Sahara Cup. Otherwise the Boards of both the countries and the sponsors will face a financial loss.''

Nayeem also made it clear that if the IMG wanted, Pakistan was ready to play any other team at Toronto. ``If India wants to play, it would be the best option. If not, we are ready to compete against any team that IMG would like us to play against.'' This thought was also echoed by Zakir Sayeed, who is the secretary of the Asian Cricket Council.

Meanwhile, the captain of the Indian cricket team Sourav Ganguly is also sad that India is not taking part in the tournament. In a telephonic interview to a vernacular daily in Calcutta, Ganguly said, ``I like playing at Toronto. So I am a little sad at not being able to play there. However, I would not like to comment on the decision to cancel the event simply because it is a matter between the Indian Cricket Board and the Government.''

However the government decision is a blessing for Lancashire, the county for whom Ganguly is turning out this season. Lancashire are scheduled to play a few important championship matches during the period that India were to participate at Toronto. If the Sahara Cup was held, the county would have been forced to release Ganguly. Now they can utilize his services till September 17.