India-Pak bilateral cricket series: Gavaskar lashes out at BCCI; Pak players hail Indian Cricket Board’s decision

Five years after they last played a bi-lateral series India and Pakistan will feature in a cricket series in December 2012 in India. It has attracted contrasting opinions from cricketers from the two countries, says a report in Pune Mirror.

While Abdul Qadir, former leg-spinner from Pakistan, saw it as something that “will open further doors like trade and cooperation in tackling terrorism”, Sunil Gavaskar, former India captain, has lashed out the Indian board as he felt there was no hurry in organizing this series as Pakistan was not cooperating in the Mumbai terror attacks probe.

The countries will play three ODIs and two Twenty20 games. Chennai, Kolkata and New Delhi will be the venues for the ODIs while Bangalore and Ahmedabad will host the two T20 matches. Bilateral cricket between the nuclear-armed neighbors were snapped after the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed. India blame Pakistan-based militants for the incident. The last series between the two sides was Pakistan's tour of India in 2007 although Pakistan travelled to India to play the 50-over World Cup semi-final in Mohali last year.


Meanwhile a Times Of India report says that the news of the Pakistan cricket team visiting India by the end of this year has been welcomed by cricket lovers and the current and former players who said it will help in improving ties between the two nations.

"The decision is great and we welcome it. It seems the wishes of millions of cricket lovers have been fulfilled," Zaka Ashraf, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board told the media in Lahore. "We are still waiting for BCCI's invitation, but it seems it (the series) will surely be held later this year."

Pakistan's Test and ODI skipper Misbah-ul-Haq said everyone enjoys matches between India and Pakistan, including the players. "There is always stiff competition whenever Pakistan and India play," he added. Muhammad Hafeez, Pakistan's T20 captain, stressed that people have high expectations from the team when they play against India. "The invitation from India is good news for the whole world as people across the globe were missing Pakistan-India matches. I hope the Indian team would also tour Pakistan after this series," he said.

According to a report in Economic Times, mega bucks will return to the cricket pitch again this Christmas with India inviting Pakistan to play three one-day internationals and two T20 matches, ending a five-year drought in the legendary sporting rivalry after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008.

The Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to resume cricketing ties with Pakistan by inviting their team for a short series in December-January. The Pakistan Cricket Board welcomed the decision and it is now up to the two governments to clear the tour.

"It is a good opportunity to come close. We must play together. When PCB approached us, we agreed," Rajeev Shukla, vice-president, BCCI, told ET.

Meanwhile The Indian Express report that the decision to invite Pakistan to play three one-day internationals (in Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata) and two T20 games (in Ahmedabad and Bangalore) in December 2012-January 2013 was taken at the BCCI’s working committee meeting here on Monday.
Though both the teams have faced each other in multi-national events hosted by the International Cricket Council (ICC), most recently at Mohali during the World Cup last year, security fears and the frosty relationship between the two boards and the governments resulted in no “home or away” tours between the old rivals.

The cold shoulder to Pakistani cricketers at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction in 2009 was seen as a major reason for the PCB-BCCI rift. BCCI secretary N Srinivasan and PCB president Zaka Ashraf were involved in several rounds of talks in the recent months to improve ties.