When Zaka Ashraf took over as Pakistan cricket chief in October last year his highest-priority tasks were to resume suspended home international matches and revive ties with arch-rivals India. With security fears still running high, there is still no prospect of foreign teams touring Pakistan soon, but on Monday cricket fans rejoiced as India invited their neighbours for a limited overs tour in December-January.
The series, if approved by both governments, will end a five-year hiatus in series between two of the sport’s greatest rivals and see the subcontinent come to a standstill for three one-dayers and two Twenty20 matches.
Terror attacks on India’s commercial capital Mumbai in November 2008 brought cricket ties with Pakistan to a juddering halt, as New Delhi blamed militants from across the border for the three-day assault that left 166 dead.
Any resumption of cricket tours was seen as politically impossible in India until diplomatic relations improved and Pakistan showed willingness to tackle terror groups targeting the country. But after more than two years without substantial progress, a thaw began during last year’s World Cup, when India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani to watch their sides contest the semi-final in the Indian city of Mohali.
Another key step came in April, when Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari asked Singh to restore links during a meeting in the Indian capital.
While the politicians and civil servants have played a crucial role, there have been on-and-off contacts between the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for more than nine months. The two nuclear powers have gone to war with each other three times since their independence from Britain in 1947, and another conflict was narrowly averted in 1987 when Pakistan’s then-military ruler General Zia-ul Haq visited India for a cricket series. Ashraf has been dogged in his determination to see the rivalry played out on the pitch again. “There is definitely a sense of achievement but the credit goes to President Asif Zardari for initiating the revival and to the millions of fans who want India and Pakistan to play each other,” Ashraf told AFP. BCCI president Narayanaswami Srinivasan initially snubbed the new PCB chief when Ashraf requested a meeting in December last year, but India relented after Zardari’s trip in April.
“After President Zardari’s visit there was an evident change,” said Ashraf. “First I was invited to attend the Indian Premier League final in May and then our domestic team Sialkot Stallions was included in the Champions League.”
The Champions League is a Twenty20 event owned by India, Australia and South Africa and involving teams from top cricketing nations.
Ashraf and his colleagues suffered another temporary setback at an ICC meeting in Malaysia last month when BCCI officials gave them the cold shoulder, but the PCB chairman said he never lost hope.
BCCI spokesman Rajiv Shukla told AFP he had no doubt the series would get government approval and go ahead.
“The Pakistan board has been insisting for a series for a long time,” he said. “But we did not want to play it at a neutral venue.”
With the India trip decided, Ashraf must now turn to his second task, reviving international matches in Pakistan which have been suspended since a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team in 2009. “We have an understanding with Bangladesh and we are confident that they will tour us in the near future,” said Ashraf.
Pakistan says money no issue in India series
Pakistan cricket chiefs on Wednesday dismissed reports they had sought a share of revenues from their planned tour of India later this year — the arch-rivals’ first series in five years. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) spokesman Nadeem Sarwar told AFP the first priority was to revive cricket with India and money had not been a consideration. India announced on Monday they will host Pakistan for a short series of three one-day internationals and two Twenty20s in December-January, ending a five-year deadlock sparked by the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008. “Pakistan’s first priority was to revive ties with India and PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf was focused on that. We wanted to take a start and for that we were negotiating since October last year,” said Sarwar. Tour revenues normally go to the host nation, but reports in Indian media suggested Pakistan wanted the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to split the money. Television rights alone for an India-Pakistan series are estimated to be worth $25 million but the figure could be much higher given India’s vast TV audiences. “Such reports about the proposal of revenue sharing for India-Pakistan series have no relevance and do not express the views of the PCB. The revenue sharing thing never came under discussion,” Sarwar said. In talks about reviving the matches last year, the then-PCB chairman Ijaz Butt demanded a 50-50 share of revenue, which India refused. The BCCI said Tuesday they were hopeful of getting the necessary clearance for the series from New Delhi. Although India and Pakistan have met in events like the World Cup and Asia Cup, their last bilateral series was in 2007, when the Pakistani team visited India. Cricketing ties between the arch-rivals were suspended after the Mumbai attacks, blamed on Pakistan-based militant group.