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BCCI drops Indo-Pak documentary
While the Indian board says lack of time is the reason, some sources are blaming dropping of the idea on mismanagement.
The Indian cricket board has dropped the idea of making a documentary film on four decades of India-Pakistan cricketing ties, but there are varying versions of why it did so.
While officially the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) says lack of time is the reason, some BCCI sources are blaming it on mismanagement.
The 10-15-minute documentary was to bring alive some of the all-time great matches between the two countries.
But the plan has been shelved due to what officially is being described as "lack of time."
Had the documentary materialised, it would have been a first in BCCI's history.
"We did not have the time to make the film, that's why the idea has been dropped," said a BCCI official.
But one BCCI source said the truth was that the board was so preoccupied with a spate of court cases just before the 50-day tour started on February 28 that it slipped on the documentary making.
Even the routine issue of the tour itinerary became a subject of controversy and it was finally announced just 10 days before the Pakistani team landed in New Delhi.
BCCI's communication and co-ordination committee (CCC) had mooted the idea of the documentary, but the working committee shot down the proposal.
The BCCI was already in talks with Doordarshan for archival footage. It was also ascertained that the state-run television channel did no have footage of matches played before the 1986 Australasia Cup in Sharjah, said the official.
It was at that tournament that Pakistan's Javed Miandad hit Chetan Sharma for a six off the last ball to win a thrilling title match for his country.
The CCC has, however, produced a brochure on India-Pakistan cricket matches, which includes pictures, records and statistics of the matches played since 1952, profiles of the players and messages of the presidents of the two boards.
The two countries have so far played 51 Tests, with India winning seven and Pakistan 10, with 34 ending in a draw.
Of the 95 One-Day Internationals, India have won 33, Pakistan 58 and four matches have ended without result.
The BCCI also did not arrange media interactions with the Indian and Pakistani teams, normally an occasion when players of the two teams would have been present for interviews. It gave no reason for the decision.
The board was expected to arrange for the media interaction with one team in New Delhi and the other in Mohali, where the first Test ended in a draw Saturday.
The second Test of the three-match series begins in Kolkata on Wednesday.
