Abu Dhabi cricket officials in hot waters after Indo-Pak tie fiasco

BY : Waheed Khan.
KARACHI: India’s refusal to play a day and night exhibition match at the newly constructed Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on May 14 has placed the top officials of the Abu Dhabi Cricket Control Board (ADCCB) in a very embarrassing position.

It is no secret that the ADCCB President B R Shetty and secretary Ravi Pandit were specially hired by the Abu Dhabi Cricket Council last year in the hope that being Indians they had a better chance of convincing the Indian government and board to send its team to Abu Dhabi.

Their appointments along with that of former Indian Test player Ravi Shastri as consultant came after former Pakistan Test player Saleem Altaf had done all the hard work as chief executive and played a big role in the establishment of the stadium.

The Indian government has not allowed its team to play at any Gulf venue since October 2000 when they last appeared in the Coca Cola Trophy held at the traditional Gulf cricket venue, Sharjah.

Since India’s official ban even the Sharjah-based Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS) resigned itself to the situation and decided to continue with its tournaments with active support from Pakistan and Sri Lankan cricket boards.

But after signing on Shetty, Pandit and Shastri, apparently the ADCCB was so confident of staging a match between full strength Indian and Pakistan elevens on May 14 that they announced a winner’s purse of $100,000.

And the announcement was made by none other than Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak al-Nahyan, chairman of the ADCCB and who is minister for higher education and a favoured son of UAE President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan and the feeling is that the match cancellation would prove embarrassing at the highest level in the UAE capital.

But Shetty despite repeated snubs from the Indian board has still not given up hope of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Jagmohan Dalmiya giving permission to Indian players to participate in the exhibition match against a Pakistan eleven on May 14.

"I feel sad for cricket. If India does not show up, I will be very disappointed," Shetty told an Indian newspaper.

Although he is very disillusioned man with the Indian board and its President these days following the fiasco over the staging of the match, Shetty said he is still trying to convince his "good friend" Dalmiya to change his stance.

"Right now he is not taking my calls. But I’ll request him. It’s for the good of the game. There are 1.2 million Indians in Abu Dhabi dying to watch Team India play. Let’s hope things work out."

What is also really embarrassing for Shetty and Ravi Pandit, who is accompanying Shetty to India these days, is that while only four Indian cricketers had signed up for the match, Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and 13 other Pakistan players had given their consent for the match with the clearance of their board.

"We met with the players during the Rawalpindi Test (between India and Pakistan) earlier this month and four Indian players gave us a confirmation along with 14 Pakistan cricketers," Pandit said. "So we thought everything was confirmed and that’s why we held the press conference in Abu Dhabi to announce the match."

But Dalmiya is adamant the Indian players would not go to Abu Dhabi. "I don’t know anything about this and I don’t have any appointment with Abu Dhabi officials," he said. "There won’t be any match."

Dalmiya and BCCI secretary S K Nair have termed as a ‘masala encounter’ the match which was scheduled to be the inauguration of the spanking Zayed Stadium, sponsored entirely by the Abu Dhabi government.

"How can he (Dalmiya) say he didn’t know anything about it? I spoke to him myself and proposed the plan to him," Shetty added.

But BCCI joint secretary Prof Ratnakar Shetty who went with Pakistan as manager of the Indian team says even when he met Pandit in Pindi he had advised him to first get clearance of the Indian board for the match.

"It is true that he was there in Rawalpindi and was in touch with the players. But, I told him then itself that players’ consent at that stage meant nothing without the Board’s permission.

I advised him to get that first. But they have straightaway announced an India XI vs Pakistan XI match! This is wrong," Professor Shetty said.

- Source : The News International, Pakistan.

Saturday, May 01, 2004.
source : © UAEcricket.com.