The Hindu : PCB chief wants India to visit first

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 30, 2002

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Sport - Cricket

PCB chief wants India to visit first

Islamabad April 29. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Tauqir Zia feels that cricketing ties with India can only be restored, if the Indian team visits Pakistan country first.

``If India visits us first, we will play them. Otherwise, the situation will remain the same and cricketing ties will remain suspended,'' The News, quoting Zia, said on Sunday.

He said Pakistan had a firm stance on playing India and in the past had reiterated that it was ready to play India anywhere.

Zia pointed out, ``but now the PCB wants that India should visit us first in order to resume cricket ventures. We believe in not mixing politics with sports, and our policy has yielded results as the Indian authorities are giving it a thought to revive cricketing relations with Pakistan.

``Lately, there has been a visible change in the Indian stance which, in my opinion, is positive and will help in ending the deadlock, '' he added.

He said both the Indian and Pakistan cricket boards were suffering huge financial losses as they were not playing each other and that was also harming the cause of cricket in general.

``The people of the sub-continent want to see both teams playing, even in off-shore tournaments and the suspension of ties between the two has left people in sheer disappointment,'' Zia observed.

About the selection of the Pakistan team, he said it was the job of the selection committee and the captain and the coach were also being consulted in that regard.

However, the PCB chief made it clear that the captain and the coach had no authority to interfere in selection matters. He said the PCB had adopted a policy to assess the exact physical fitness of a player and in that regard the doctors' panel would be the ultimate authority to give a final verdict.

``Whether it is Saeed Anwar or anybody else, he will have to prove his fitness to the doctors. He himself cannot make an announcement that he is fully fit. If the doctors differ with the player and declare him unfit, he will not be considered no matter how big a player he is or how he has performed in the past,'' the PCB chief added.

Zia said the match-fixing saga had tarnished the image of the country, and as a result the sport suffered a lot in all aspects. The PCB had taken a number of steps to check the practice and paid special attention to the welfare of the players to make them financially sound so that they could not be tempted by such evils, he added.

Zia said he had taken drastic steps to turn the PCB into an organised institution and evolve a system to run it on the lines of the Australian Cricket Board (ACB). ``Obviously we cannot hire 145 employees like the ACB, but we are following them by having different and specialised departments, which are being run by trained professionals.'' Admitting that he had committed some mistakes after taking over as chairman of the PCB, he pointed out, ``one of the mistakes was to test a number of players and grant Test caps to too many cricketers.''

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