da bwin： Imran Khan has said that the PakistanCricket Board (PCB) was at fault in the way it handledthe ECB’s refusal to playmore than one ODI in Karachi
Osman Samiuddin05-Aug-2005
Imran Khan: critical of the PCB © Getty Images
In a U-turn befitting of a seasoned politician, the formerPakistan captain Imran Khan has said that the PakistanCricket Board (PCB) was at fault in the way it handledthe ECB’s refusal to playmore than one ODI in Karachi.”The board shouldnever have offered England the choice of playing aTest or one-dayer in Karachi,” Imran told the news agency in Karachi on Friday. “They should haveinsisted on having a Test in Karachi and not waveredfrom their stand especially after the bomb blasts inLondon. There are security concerns everywhere in theworld given the prevailing circumstances. England mustkeep this in mind.”With these words, Imran contradicted his owncomments from the beginning of July, when he told that the ECB was not only justified in refusing toplay in Karachi, but that the PCB was not to blame forthe situation. Then he said: “Until and unlessthe law and order situation was restored such thingswill happen. When England’s security team was inKarachi the city mayor was quoted in newspaper assaying that local elections next months will seebloodshed and everyone took notice of it. You can’tblame the PCB because in sucha situation if they press for a Test in Karachi thewhole tour might get jeopardized.”Since then, however, there has been increasingcriticism of both Khan’s comments and the PCB’s feeblehandling of the Karachi issue. The bombingsin London early last month and – in particular the lackof disruption they caused to the ongoing Ashes series -has further strengthened the criticism. Another formercaptain, Wasim Akram recently questioned whether theAustralians would have stayed on had a similar attacktaken place in the subcontinent. One PCB official,reacting to Khan’s latest comments, said: “He hasclearly progressed more as a politician than many ofus thought.”The chorus of disapproval over England’s decision toplay only one ODI on their upcoming tour in Octoberhas been simmering steadily for a month now. JavedMiandad called for the whole tour to be cancelled and thecurrent captain Inzamam-ul-Haq also expressed hisdisappointment at the decision, asking them to reviewtheir decision. Former PCB Chief Executive, ArifAbbasi, also condemned the PCB’s stance on a radioshow two weeks ago, claiming they should never havegiven the ECB options in the first place. And thereare now reports that the President of Pakistan,General Pervez Musharraf might also ask the PCBChairman Shaharyar Khan to justify the decision at ameeting to be held to discuss cricket affairs at theend of this month.The itinerary was eventually finalized last week afterprolonged negotiations, with Multan, Lahore andFaisalabad being picked as Test venues and the ODIsdivided among Lahore, Rawalpindi andKarachi. As well as an aversion to Karachi, Englandalso expressed reservations about playing in Multan,although then, the PCB had displayed anuncharacteristic firmness in sticking to their guns.This had come on the back of unconfirmed reports thatthe ECB was insisting on a clause in the tour contractallowing for last-minute venue changes based onsecurity concerns. The PCB has hinted at tit-for-tatreprisals when Pakistan tour England next summer, thePCB Chairman suggesting London might also constitute asafety threat.