The International Cricket Council task team has urged Pakistan and India to resume their bilateral series on their home soils. The neighbouring rivals have not played a bilateral series since Pakistan toured India in 2007. Political relations became strained after the militant attack at Mumbai in 2008, and India postponed its return tour to Pakistan.
And with the Task Team recommendations the chance of UAE hosting hyper-tense series has become bleaker. The PTT has also urged the governments of bother the countries to seek a swift resolution that would enable the game to resume between the two countries. Pakistan are scheduled to tour India next year, and in the Future Tour Programme for 2012 to 2020 the ICC has scheduled at least three series between the teams. But it has not yet been decided that who would be the host because it was the turn of Pakistan when the ties were stalled.
Recently an Indian government official suggested a neutral venue as the possible option for the holding of the series and Pakistan has been holding its home series of the late at UAE but with the recommendations of the PTT if it were implemented the UAE may not be the host of the much awaited series. Pakistan has announced the holding of its forthcoming series against Sri Lanka in October and England later at the UAE.
The PTT was formed in 2009 to ensure Pakistan retained and developed international cricket after the attack in Lahore on the Sri Lanka team bus ended all major visits, and prevented Pakistan from co-hosting this year’s World Cup. Pakistan hosted five “home” series in the UAE and England, and also played against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka in July 2009 which was supposed to be Pakistan’s home series.
The PTT’s 38-page report, presented to the ICC conference in Hong Kong last week, also regarded the appointment of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman by the president as highly unusual, and wants an end to the government’s undue interference in the PCB.
PCB to submit response within a week: A blueprint to overhaul the operations of Pakistan cricket, including the resumption of series against neighbor India, will be submitted to the International Cricket Council within a week, the PCB said on Thursday. A wire agency quoted Pakistan Cricket Board’s chief operating officer Subhan Ahmed as saying that the board members would be consulted on the contents of the submission before it was sent to the ICC. He said it may include all or none of 63 recommendations put forward by the Pakistan Task Team which examined the country’s cricket operations. “We have already been told by the ICC that it is not binding on us to implement all the PTT recommendations,” Ahmed said. Among its suggestions, the Task Team urged resumption of the Pakistan-India series, removal of the PCB chairman’s right to veto team selection, and an end to government’s strong role in cricket matters.
The Task Team, headed by England’s Giles Clarke, was formed in 2009 to ensure Pakistan retained and developed international cricket after the deadly attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in March that year ended all major visits, and prevented Pakistan from co-hosting this year’s World Cup. The PTT’s term of reference was revised last year after three Pakistan players were charged of spot-fixing for bowling predetermined no-balls during the Lord’s test against England. The PTT helped PCB implement integrity-related actions that included players’ education program on anti-corruption.
