Pakistan's tour of India is on, says Majid (23 October 1998)

23 October 1998

Pakistan's tour of India is on, says Majid

The Dawn

Pakistan cricket team's tour of India early next year is on for three Test matches and five one-day internationals.

The chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Majid Khan, said he was in constant touch with his counterparts and hoped that the tour would proceed as planned.

"We have already approached the Foreign Ministry but have not received any feed-back. This has made us believe that they have no objection to our team's tour," Majid said from Lahore.

Majid argued that had there been some concern in Islamabad, a note of caution must have reached the PCB secretariat.

"The itinerary has almost been finalized. Only the venues have to be decided. We have not expressed our concerns about some centres. The Indian cricket officials know where they have to fix the matches," Majid stated.

He, however, said deliberations would be held when he receives the complete itinerary.

Pakistan are scheduled to leave for India next year on Jan 21 with the opening Test starting on Feb 3. They wind up their visit with the fifth one-day international on March 15.

Pakistan's previous two tours of India were cancelled for one or the other reasons. Their last Test tour was way back in 1986-87 when Imran Khan's men won the five-Test series 1-0 at Bangalore.

But the deadlock broke when Pakistan played the World Cup quarter-final at Bangalore and a year later participated in India's Independence Cup. India made a reciprocal tour last year and played three one-day internationals.

Source :: The Dawn (www.dawn.com)