Response to media criticism on Pakistan tour to India by Pakistan Cricket Board

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Event:

Pakistan in India 2004/05

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DateLine: 4th May 2005

 

Subject: Response to media criticism on issues relating to recent visit of Pakistan Cricket Team to India.

 

Now that the tour of India has been successfully completed, there is a need to respond to media criticism on some peripheral issues by stating the factual position.

 

Wives and families
2. It is PCB's policy to allow wives and families, at the players' expense, to accompany teams for limited periods. This is the practice followed by most ICC members. For the India tour, wives of two members - Abdul Razzaq and Yousuf Youhana - were permitted to accompany their husbands in the early part of the India tour. Similarly, for the West Indies, wives would be permitted to accompany their husbands for the two Test Matches. PCB believes that wives accompanying their husbands for limited periods on a tour is beneficial for the players and for team spirit.

 

Non-availability of Tickets
3. The basic reason for the non-availability of tickets for Pakistani fans was that the Supreme Court of India had frozen BCCI's executive authority. The Supreme Court lifted the ban as late as January 17, 2005, when BCCI was able to inform PCB of the venues. This information had been sought by PCB from BCCI since October 2004 when the dates had been agreed but venues remained to be decided. Thus our security/logistic team visited India at the eleventh hour and when the commencement of the tour was only two weeks away. When the schedule of venues was finally given, there was a further delay because Pakistan had reservations regarding playing a Test in Ahmedabad. This issue was not resolved until during Foreign Minister Natwar Singh's visit on 15th February, 2005. In short, the formal schedule of Tests and ODIs was not resolved until mid-February, twelve days before the commencement of the tour. Thus, except for the Mohali and New Delhi fixtures, local Indian cricket associations could not print and distribute tickets in time for Pakistani fans to purchase them and obtain visas which the Indian High Commission was granting only after the physical production of a ticket. In fact, for the Bangalore Test, PCB sent an emissary to India to physically collect the tickets and distribute them to cricket fans who had applied for them.

 

4. Secondly, tickets for the India series, unlike the series in Pakistan 2004, were not available on the internet.

 

5. The contention that Pakistani fans were not able to visit India because of PCB tardiness is totally false and tendentious. Basically, the delay was due to BCCI being embroiled in litigation.

 

Travel and Logistic Problems
6. After the long delayed communication of venues, the Pakistan security and logistics team visited all the venues (except the practice match venue of Dharmshela, Cochin and Vishakapatnam due to time constraints) between January 24-31. In their report, the team stated their reservations to Ahmedabad on grounds of crowd behaviour, New Delhi, because the team felt the stadium would not be ready in time, Kanpur because the stands were unsafe and to Dharmshela which had logistic and political problems. The team also pointed to the travel and logistic problems for some journeys that required changes of aircraft and tiring delays at airports. Acting on the teams report, some adjustments were made by BCCI (e.g. Ahmedabad, Jamshedpur) and in some travel schedules, direct chartered flights were arranged by BCCI.

 

7. As regards, Dharmshela, the following is an extract from a letter sent to BCCI after receiving the security team’s report referring to Dharmshela's logistic problem:

 

"Dharmshela - side match - This venue is tucked away in the mountains and logistically it could mean a lot of time spent in travel and hence lead to unnecessary fatigue. We would prefer the side match to be scheduled in a more easily accessibly venue"

 

8. Regrettably, due to the lateness of the schedule, further changes could not be insisted upon as the entire tour would have been placed in jeopardy. Inevitably, in a country as large as India where the rotation of venues is a tradition with the Board, some long journeys were unavoidable but these applied to both teams who followed exactly the same schedule.

Pakistan Cricket Board
2nd May, 2005

(Article: Copyright © 2005 Pakistan Cricket Board)