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PCB blasts exhausting itinerary
Pak has blamed India's rotation policy of allotting matches as the reason for the ODIs having to be played at venues with extremely hot conditions.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has blamed India's rotation policy with regard to allotting matches as the major reason for the One-Day Internationals of the current series having to be played at venues of extremely hot and humid conditions.
"There is nothing we (PCB) could do about it," said PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan when asked how Pakistan agreed to play in Kochi, Visakhapatnam, Jamshedpur and Kanpur that are considered as the hottest cities during this period of the year.
"The Indian board has a policy of rotation while awarding matches. Which we have to accept because they have so many cricket centres to look after. Not only our team, but other teams have also had to play at such venues and according to such a tight schedule," he noted.
Three Pakistan players, including Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan suffered cramps while the local media in Karachi on Sunday reported the immense inconvenience caused to not only the two teams but to the die-hard fans and the hundreds of media personnel covering the high profile series.
Shaharyar also made the point that PCB had no time to carry out a re-inspection of the venues or make fresh demands because the itinerary was finalised very late and the tour could not be delayed.
A top PCB official in Lahore further said the board had approved the tour itinerary after it was cleared by Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer.
"A top cricket operations man had a detailed meeting with Bob Woolmer on the tour itinerary and the PCB had only approved the proposed schedule after getting the clearance from the team coach.
"It's true that BCCI had not proposed day/night matches for limited overs games and we also didn't demand matches under lights. But yes we inquired from BCCI why there were no matches under lights and they said it was due to the dew factor that was likely to affect evening sessions," a PCB spokesman explained.
