By IANS,
Karachi : Pakistan’s hastly-arranged home series against Sri Lanka has fallen into scheduling problems because of Indian cricket board’s interference, according to media reports here.
A report in the daily ‘Jang’ claimed Thursday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has forced Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to make tough demands regarding the tour.
The views seem to be based on media reports originating from Sri Lanka that India is not happy with Sri Lanka’s cricket tour of Pakistan.
Arjuna Ranatunga, the head of the SLC interim committee which was later dismissed by the government, accepted Pakistan’s invitation to fill in for India. But after the government cleared the tour, Indian authorities expressed their displeasure over the next month’s series, the report said.
Ranatunga had agreed on a six-week tour, including three Tests and five one-dayers. Under that programme, Sri Lanka was supposed to arrive in Pakistan Jan 20 and stay here till Feb 25.
But the current SLC officials want a reduced tour with just two Tests, three ODIs and a Twenty20 game. They want to send their team to Pakistan in mid-Feb. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is now in a fix as the schedule will clash with Pakistan’s one-day series in Bangladesh which is slated to begin March 3.
The reports claim BCCI has been working in the background to ensure that Pakistan does not get good matches after India cancelled its tour of Pakistan because of Mumbai terror attacks.
BCCI enjoys considerable influence over regional cricket boards like SLC and Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and is using it to derail PCB plans to host a full series against Sri Lanka in a bid to compensate for the cancellation of their much-awaited home games against India, it said.
Some television channels have also aired reports that BCCI is pulling strings to jeopardize Sri Lanka’s tour of Pakistan.
Both PCB and SLC are still working on the tour itinerary and are expected to finalize it within the next couple of days.