eSports Log

Saleem Altaf, the PCB’s Chief Operating Officer, has said the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is only considering neutral venues to avoid cancellation of tours that dogged Pakistani international cricket in 2008. He said PCB lost the opportunity to host the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2008 mainly on account of a rigid stance adopted by the previous PCB top brass. However, Pakistan is now supposed to host Australia for a proposed one-day series in the month of April 2009, although Ijaz Butt, PCB chief, has already said the Aussies will not come to Pakistan. On the other hand, the News reported that the proposed series is likely to take place at some offshore venue.

Altaf said, “We want to be more flexible because a rigid attitude won’t help. It’s better to have cricket at some neutral venue than not having it at all.” He added the Pakistan is considering neutral venues such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Kuala Lumpur for the series. He said the PCB believes that India has only postponed its tour of Pakistan. India will honor the commitment as soon as possible to improve relations between the two neighbors. He more added that PCB and BCCI officials will sit down soon to manage a slot for the series that was supposed to take place in January-February 2009 when Indo-Pak relations commence to show any improvement.

PCB already suffered enormous losses after the International Cricket Council (ICC) postponed the Champions Trophy 2008 after five of the eight competing teams refused to go Pakistan due to security apprehensions. At that time, the proposal of shifting the tournament to Sri Lanka, the event’s reserve venue, was discussed but PCB managed to shoot down that proposal. And PCB entirely ruled out hosting the Champions Trophy at some neutral venue. However, this proposal mostly depends on BCCI’s decision.