Pakistan’s cricket chief Ijaz Butt has said India rejected a proposal to share revenue from a possible series between the arch rivals on the grounds that India will play host.
“We hope the series will be revived and we told them we are ready to play in India but revenue should be shared 50-50, but they did not accept the proposal,” Butt said in an interview broadcast late Thursday. India cancelled a series with Pakistan after Islamist gunmen went on the rampage in Mumbai in November 2008, killing 166 people in attacks that India and the United States blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
Pakistan is slated to tour India next February and March in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Future Tour Programme, subject to clearance from both governments. An ICC Task Team has also called for a revival of cricket between India and Pakistan, saying its absence is felt by millions of fans across the world.
“We had a detailed discussion with them (the Indian board) in Hong Kong last month and hope that something will come out soon,” said Butt. “Naturally, compared to what we earn when we play any other top country, we earn much more if we play India. But we have to sort out details, but what they say is basically a one-sided affair,” said Butt. Butt said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had backed an Indian tour to Pakistan while hosting his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani at the World Cup semi-final between the two countries in India last March.
India, however, remains extremely concerned about security in Pakistan, where bomb and suicide attacks have killed around 4,500 people in the last four years and where the Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked in March 2009. India last toured Pakistan for the Asia Cup in 2008.
