Sensitive trip for Pakistan team: PCB chief (22 January 1999)

22 January 1999

Sensitive trip for Pakistan team: PCB chief

Ilyas Beg

LAHORE, Jan 21: Pakistan cricket team has been sent on the sensitive tour of India after taking full precautionary measures. It should fight as a well-oiled machine against the Indian side, always formidable on home grounds and we are not bothered by any security risks.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Khalid Mahmood, during a crowded Press conference at the Gaddafi Stadium on Thursday afternoon, said that the Foreign Ministry Director General of South Asian Desk, Zamir Akram, the seasoned foreign diplomat Shaharyar M. Khan (appointed manager of the team to handle all sorts of situations) gave a detailed briefing to the boys which removed all apprehensions from their minds. "It was gracious of the former foreign secretary Shaharyar Khan to accept the managership of the team for the fragile tour," added the PCB chairman.

Khalid Mahmood said that the PCB special envoy Brigadier Saeed Rafi, who visited venues where Pakistan team will be playing matches and also held discussions with the external and internal affairs ministries and Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi, has submitted a positive report about the security measures adopted by India. Khalid said that after the withdrawal of threat by Shiv Sena's leader Bal Kishen Thackeray, the Pakistani players and their families felt relaxed.

The PCB chairman said that the Indian government had been insisting that the last-minute cancellation of the last three planned tours by the Pakistan team could also have progressed without any mishap. That encouraged the Pakistan government and the PCB to give a "go ahead" signal to the team. "Assurance by Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpai was the biggest source of encouragement for us all," said Khalid Mahmood.

Extraordinary security measures have been adopted at the hotels where the team will be staying, routes on which it will be travelling, venues where it will be playing and places where it will be visiting. "Even the floors of the hotels of the team's accommodation will be sealed," said Khalid Mahmood.

The PCB chairman said that the team had been prepared well for the challenging tour during camps.

"The poor performance of Pakistan team at home against Australia and Zimbabwe and the Indian team's dismal tour of New Zealand should not have any bearing on the highly competitive nature of the Tests and limited-over international matches among former World Cup champions India and Pakistan and the current holders, Sri Lanka," asserted Khalid Mahmood.

While giving details of the International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting, Khalid Mahmood said that the second World Under-19 Cricket Cup will be held in Sri Lanka in the year 2000. The inaugural World Junior Cup was held in South Africa in 1998.

Khalid said that after the success of the Cricket Week in Bangladesh last year, which fetched the ICC a profit of over ten million dollars, the second one had been planned to be held at Disneyland in Florida (USA). "Excellent organisation of the ICC Trophy had enhanced Bangladesh's chances of full membership," said the PCB chairman.

A strategic plan was being prepared by experts for presentation in the meeting in June, which would ensure equitable distribution of Test matches among the nine members of the ICC without affecting the series like Ashes or the one between Pakistan and India.

Source :: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)