Pakistan's India tour may be delayed as disputes rumble on by AFP

---

Ground:	Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad
Event:	Pakistan in India 2004/05

---

DateLine: 17th February 2005

 

India's cricket board has accepted a Pakistani request to change one Test venue but said its neighbour's first cricket tour across the border in six years may still be delayed by continuing disputes over venues and television rights.

 

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) accepted Pakistan's demand to avoid Ahmedabad as a Test venue, but proposed the city host an unscheduled one-day international to appease local politicians and cricket officials.

 

The BCCI on Thursday sent a revised list of venues for the approval of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), under which the Test will shift to Calcutta and Ahmedabad is allotted one of the six one-dayers.

 

The PCB is expected to reply in the next 48 hours whether it is willing to consider a one-dayer in Ahmedabad, where at least 2,000 people -- mostly Muslims -- were killed in communal riots in 2002.

 

The tour is scheduled to start on February 25.

 

"There is a possibility the tour may be postponed by four to five days," BCCI president Ranbir Singh Mahendra told reporters after a meeting of the board's working committee.

 

"We want everything to be in place before the tour starts."

 

The PCB said it would seek government permission to play the one-day match in Ahmedabad.

 

"It is a welcome decision but we will have to get the government's permission to play a one-day match in Ahmedabad. We hope the matter will be decided amicably," PCB chief Shaharyar Khan said.

 

Mohali and Bangalore will host the other two Tests during the seven-week tour, while the one-dayers will be played in Cochin, Visakhapatnam, Jamshedpur, Kanpur and New Delhi.

 

Only five one-dayers had been originally scheduled but a sixth was added to accommodate Ahmedabad.

 

India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party last week urged the government to cancel the tour if Pakistan declines to play in Ahmedabad.

 

The BCCI was also unable to finalise TV rights for the high-profile series following an ongoing legal battle in the Madras High Court.

 

The BCCI backed out of a four-year, 308-million dollar deal with India's Zee Telefilms last September after it was challenged in court by rival ESPN-Star Sports, jointly owned by Disney and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

 

The Madras High Court, which is hearing a counter-petition by Zee, on Thursday adjourned hearings till Friday amid indications a final decision was unlikely before next week.

 

"We can't decide on TV rights because the matter is in court," Mahendra said. "That's why I am saying the tour may be postponed."

 

Pakistan's first full tour of India since 1999 follows India's visit in March-April last year to resume cricket ties that had been stalled since 2000 due to political tensions.

 

India won both the Test and one-day series on that tour, their first to Pakistan for Test matches in 15 years.

 

Pakistan's cricket chief met visiting Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh earlier Thursday in Islamabad about the venue dispute, in an indication of the tour's political significance.

 

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan said Singh agreed that a postponement of the tour should not be an option as both countries are willing to play.

(Article: Copyright © 2005 AFP)