India’s cricket tour of Pak in doubt

Bangalore: A day after security concerns forced the government to refuse clearance to the junior hockey team’s tour of Pakistan, uncertainty surrounds the Indian cricket team’s visit to the country, scheduled to start from January 6, next year.

Although there was no official word on it, BCCI sources told TOI on Tuesday that safety of the players will be the dominant consideration in deciding the timing and venue of the series. “The final call will be taken on the basis of the assessment that the government makes in December,’’ a senior BCCI official said.

Pakistan has seen a wave of bombings in recent times and the writ of the government doesn’t seem to be effective even in urban areas where the matches ^ 3 Tests, 5 ODIs and a T20 International ^ are supposed to take place. The venues include Karachi, Rawalpindi and Multan.

Pakistan has not played a single Test match for more than a year, with teams like Australia and West Indies pulling out due to security concerns.

The feeling in the government is that a visiting squad can be a tempting target for jihadis who are seen to be behind numerous daring strikes in the recent past, including the September 20 explosion at the Merriott hotel in Islamabad that claimed at least 54 lives.

The other reason playing on the government’s mind is that an attack on the team could derail the peace process between the two countries as it could inflame public passions in India.

Similar concerns have also been raised over the senior hockey team’s proposed tour of Pakistan in January.

The ad-hoc committee of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), in charge of hockey in the country, told TOI that it will go by the advice of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for the senior hockey team’s tour.

The committee has not taken a call yet on the tour although Pakistan has proposed that the series be held between January 4 and 16. A decision was to be taken in the coming weeks but committee sources said that with the five-match Test series between the junior teams of India and Pakistan being cancelled, they would rather adhere to the ministry’s advice on the January tour.

“As far as the senior tour is concerned, we hadn’t made much headway after the Pakistan Hockey Federation sent their proposal. Now that the MEA has made its stand clear, we would rather abide by whatever decision it takes in the coming weeks,’’ a source in the ad-hoc committee said.

“We wouldn’t want to comment on the outcome of the tour but in any case, the Indian team wouldn’t be missing much as it would be playing Pakistan in the Punjab Gold Cup double-leg four-nation tournament between January 31 and February 9 in Chandigarh and Jalandhar,’’ he added.

Incidentally, the Punjab Gold Cup, which also has Holland and Germany in the fray, will be India’s first exposure tournament if the Pakistan series gets cancelled. From then on, it is a hectic competitive period with the team travelling to New Zealand for a ‘test’ series, to Ipoh for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in April and Europe in July-August.