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Pak's India tour mired in confusion

Even as D-day gets close, the BCCI is yet to finalise match dates and there is uncertainty about venues.

Updated on: Feb 26, 2005, 13:35:00 IST
PTI | By , Mumbai
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Pakistan's first Test tour of India in over six years is mired in confusion and controversy with only two weeks to go for its planned start.

HT Image
HT Image

The Indian cricket board is yet to finalise match dates, there is uncertainty surrounding the venues and a court battle is on over who should get the broadcast rights.

The muddle has left cricket fans shaking their heads and saying: "This happens only in India!" - a sentiment often inspired by the cricket board, which is itself embroiled in a court battle over its elections.

Even if the BCCI clear the air in its meeting in New Delhi on February 17, it will give them just over a week to work out logistics and organise flights, accommodation and ticket sales before Pakistan arrive on February 25.

The board is confident it will manage.

"Things are taking time, but we hope to sort everything out in our working committee meeting," said Karunakaran Nair, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

"We've already got a plan, things only need to be finalised."

There are, however, several road blocks along the way before the three Tests and five one-dayers start.

The biggest problem is over holding a Test in Ahmedabad, the volatile main city in the western Gujarat state which was rocked by India's worst communal riots in a decade in 2002.

The Pakistan board has requested the match be shifted, though their decision has led to some Hindu hardline groups calling for cancellation of the tour if Pakistan refuses to play in Ahmedabad.

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