India cancel Pakistan tour

LahoriMunda · March 29, 2003, 10:52pm

**India cancel Pakistan tour **

India have confirmed that they have pulled out of next month’s scheduled tour to Pakistan

India’s government has refused to grant the team permission to travel to Pakistan in the light of continuing political tensions between the two countries.

"We had sought permission for the team to travel to Pakistan but have been told that the government’s position remains unchanged.

“The government has informed us that the security scenario in Pakistan is not conducive for an Indian tour,” said Board of Control for Cricket in India Secretary SK Nair.

They were due to play three Tests and three one-day internationals during the tour.

“India’s decision has disappointed us,” Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman Samiul Hassan said

“We were expecting they would send their players to Pakistan so the region could see some thrilling cricket.”

He added: “Pakistan and India should continue to play if we want to improve cricket in Asia.”

The two countries have been at loggerheads over disputed territory in Kashmir and there has been no Test cricket between them since June 2000.

There were hopes, however, that a recent match at the World Cup in South Africa, which India won by six wickets, would lead to a resumption of normal cricket relations.

It attracted huge interest in both India and Pakistan and among Asian cricket fans living overseas.

No pay-out for Pakistan

The tour would have been a much-needed money-spinner for the PCB which has suffered heavy losses as a result of cancelled series over the past couple of years.

They were forced to play ‘home’ series against West Indies and Australia at neutral venues, and a Test against New Zealand was cancelled last April after a bomb explosion in Karachi.

I think the ICC should take some action after this. Refusing to tour for security reasons is justified but refusing for political reasons should be punished. BCCI is willing to send the team but the government keeps refusing. If ICC put some financial penalties on India I think the governement might take it a little more seriously. So far ICC has not done anything about it. If they cant do anything then whats the point of coming out with 10 year programme.

Asif_k · March 30, 2003, 12:34am

Re: India cancel Pakistan tour

Yeah, but then ICC will have to Ban or atleast take aganist India, England, New Zealand. Are they willing to do that.

ICC can't force any nation to go and play in Pakistan. They cant even impose a financial penalty because as far as I know ICC does not spend or earn any money on ICC Test championship.

The most ICC can do is to award points to Pakistan for every cancelled tour.

LahoriMunda · March 30, 2003, 1:22am

Re: Re: India cancel Pakistan tour

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Asif_k: *
Yeah, but then ICC will have to Ban or atleast take aganist India, England, New Zealand. Are they willing to do that.

[/QUOTE]

Why would ICC have to do that???? I dont think you paid any attention to my comment under the article. It is completley justified to cancel tour for security reasons but India has been cancelling their tours to Pakistan for some time now and not all of them were for security reasons, most of them were political reason. That is wrong.

Faisal · March 30, 2003, 1:28am

LM.

India can as easily call it "security reasons". Its just semantics. While Asif_k is right that ICC will be in an awkward position to implement any financial penalties, it can be argued, that if ICC is satisfied that there are no reasonable grounds for refusing to tour, then they should award the points to the other country.

Just like they had a committee during the World Cup, which listened to British case for not touring Zimbabwe and decided that British case is weak and unacceptable, so they awarded full forfeiture points to Zimbabwe. The same process should be applied consistently.

While, I really wish Indian team tours Pakistan, and we can see some good cricket, I really feel, instead of being vindictive and emotional, there should be a proper process in place to deal with such things.

a1kashur · March 30, 2003, 2:09am

oh, I’m shocked.

teaser · March 30, 2003, 6:52am

Yaar Talk about something new :)

system · March 30, 2003, 8:05am

This was expected from the BCCI.

BrokenSky · March 30, 2003, 5:27pm

then they say that we defeated pakistan:smash:

munnabhai · March 30, 2003, 6:08pm

so was that not right. ok , we defeated pakistan convincingly. that should clear your problem.

a1kashur · March 30, 2003, 6:41pm

India won't tour Pak because they know Pak will beat them,then they won't be able to say at least they won against Pak in WC.

Confidant · March 30, 2003, 7:12pm

bhia.. they will always say that..

aur pakistan ka samjah nai aata.. hamesha WC main hi in say kyon haar jatay hian

teaser · March 30, 2003, 7:25pm

Yeah they will always say that to hide 52:30 no doubt why none of the indians talk about over all record 52:30 but only WC

undefined · March 30, 2003, 7:40pm

Fie upon Indians , they always let the cricket lovers down.

a1kashur · March 30, 2003, 10:59pm

does it mean, Pak have won 52 matches and they lost 30. alright.

Umer · March 31, 2003, 12:06am

The BCCI is not the one refusing the tour. It’s the Indian government.

teaser · March 31, 2003, 12:38am

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by a1kashur: *

does it mean, Pak have won 52 matches and they lost 30. alright.
[/QUOTE]

Correct :)

UMAIR316 · March 31, 2003, 3:18pm

Re: Re: India cancel Pakistan tour

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Asif_k: *
Yeah, but then ICC will have to Ban or atleast take aganist India, England, New Zealand. Are they willing to do that.
[/quote]

No, England and New Zealand cancelled due to security fears. England were willing to play Zimbabwe anywhere else other than Zimbabwe, and New Zealand toured Pakistan but left after the blast and are willing to finsih the tour next year.
India on the other hand refuse to play Pakistan anywhere.

[/QUOTE]

Asif_k · March 31, 2003, 3:36pm

Re: Re: Re: India cancel Pakistan tour

First you need to revisit this thread :- http://www.gupistan.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=91582 and find out why England didn’t go to Zimbabwe.

If England was willing to play Zimbabwe anywhere else then why didn’t ICC schedule the match in SA ? That is because my friend ICC thought otherwise and decided that Zimbabwe was perfectly safe to play the game and awarded the points to Zimbabwe.

About the NZ tour - Newzealand was not willing to tour Pakistan either and toured only when India threatened to boycott its NZ tour.

Anyways, ICC cant ban India even if It doesn’t tour Pakistan for any reasons. ICC cant force any country to play Pakistan. At the most it can award points to Pakistan or impose financial penalty (only if It is losing any money because of the cancelled tour).

ghalib · March 31, 2003, 5:05pm

If this is true, then Indians have made an extremely chariya decision and kinda goes to shows how desperately the current gov't likes to mix politics with sports while crying over Pakistan mixing politics w/ sports. Pakistan went ahead and toured India few years back with Shiv Sena threatening to kill the players and even going as far as diggin up the pitch.

I think its quite pathetic for the BJP to constantly tout the anti-pakistan rhetoric to further their political careers, especially in the wrong arena like sports.

I suggest they quickly apppoint Bal Thacekray to form a Pak-India friendship association and plan on resuming the cricketing ties...

ghalib · March 31, 2003, 5:07pm

I also nominate Advani to be the special advisor of the association!