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Published 14 Sep, 2008 12:00am

India’s objection understandable, says PCB official: Champions Trophy

KARACHI, Sept 13: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Saturday said that BCCI’s objection to the ICC Champions Trophy being held in October 2009 was understandable as India will have to honour international commitments.

India had objected to the proposed Champions Trophy date as they are hosting Australia for a seven-match One-day International series at that time.

“The series against Australia is important for the Indians from the financial and cricketing point of view. They are quite flexible on the new Champions Trophy dates and had not said no to anything,” PCB’s Chief Operating Officer Shafqat Naghmi said.

Naghmi admitted the difficulty in finding a window in the international calendar once a tournament was postponed but was hopeful of hosting the Champions Trophy in September-October 2009.

“All boards have agreed in Dubai that the new window should ideally be September-October next year and it is a matter of settling things with other boards. Pakistan has no worries about new dates,” he stated.

Describing the next year January’s Test tour by India as the “mother of all series” for Pakistan cricket, Naghmi said it would shore up the financial resources of the board.

“The coming India series is the mother of all series as the kind of revenue from one India series is probably equal to all the series put together. Hopefully 2009 would be a better year starting with the Indian series,” he said.

Naghmi asserted that the current administration should not be blamed for the crisis in Pakistan cricket.

“The Future Tours Programme was finalised four years ago and nobody from current dispensation attended the meeting and we got a raw deal as far as scheduling of Tests is concerned,” the official said.—Agencies

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