ISLAMABAD - APP/Agencies - Former Test cricketer Sarfraz Nawaz Thursday backed the revival of Pak-India ties but considered it awkward that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced dates for the proposed series rather than the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) when it was our call to make it.
Hours after the Pakistan government gave the PCB clearance for a Pak-India in Sri Lanka, the Indian media reported that the country’s government has also given a green signal to its cricket board for the proposed series next month.
BCCI senior official Rajeev Shukla said the much-anticipated Pak-India series will happen tentatively from December 15 at the neutral venue. He said around five matches will mark the resumption of cricketing ties between India and Pakistan in Sri Lanka.
Sarfraz said this is our home series and the PCB should have announced the dates instead of BCCI. “It is great news that the Pak-India series are once again back on track but I feel the PCB must have announced the dates for it and not BCCI,” he said.
Sarfraz said he is overwhelmed by seeing Pakistan’s government playing their positive part in the happening of this series. “I request the India government to also play their positive part in future for the series,” he said.
Sarfraz also pointed that the Indo-Pak series should also be given a name as it is no less than the Ashes series. A PCB official also said that it was strange to hear BCCI giving the dates for the series when it is our call to make. “BCCI should not rush in announcing the dates as we will give the dates for our home series,” he said.
Former captain Amir Sohail said he didn’t see any harm in Sri Lanka hosting the Pak-India series. “The Pakistan-India series should happen that is the only thing in many minds at the moment,” he said.
It is pertinent to mention that India was due to tour Pakistan in January 2009 but that series was cancelled following the 26/11 incident. As per the ICC’s FTP, Pakistan was scheduled to tour India for three Tests and five ODIs in March-April 2012, but that series was also cancelled. In December 2012, Pakistan toured India for two Twenty20s and three ODIs, their first bilateral series in five years between the two countries.
Meanwhile, chairman Awami Muslim League Sheikh Rashid Ahmed Thursday welcoming decision of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to hold Pak-India cricket series in Sri Lanka said it would further close people of two countries to each others. “Cricket is very famous and most watch-able game in the South Asia and both Pakistan and India will further promote the game,” he said while talking to media persons outside the Parliament House.
Central leader Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Dr Arif Alvi Thursday welcomed the government’s decision to hold Pak-India cricket series in Sri Lanka and said it would ease tension between the two countries. Talking to media persons outside the Parliament House, Arif Alvi said that sports link was necessary and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi should also play his due role in this regard.