da dobrowin： Finally, after much hemming and hawing the BCCI has formally withdrawnfrom the Super Challenge one-day series in Australia in September
Sankhya Krishnan19-Jul-2001Finally, after much hemming and hawing the BCCI has formally withdrawnfrom the Super Challenge one-day series in Australia in September. Itwas hardly a surprise ever since the Board committed itself in May tothe Asian Test Championship on overlapping dates. Exactly why they hadto tarry until today to intimate their Australian counterparts is moreenigmatic. The curtain thus comes down on an episode which began inApril when India were proferred an invitation for a three match seriesincluding two indoor games at Melbourne’s Colonial Stadium.Having begun the tradition of indoor cricket in August 2000 againstSouth Africa, the ACB turned to India in the second year. With the twonations slugging out one of the great Test series in history earlierthis year for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, they were possibly keen tostoke the embers of that contest. A third match to be played at theGabba was to have broken fresh ground, being the first timeinternational cricket came to Brisbane outside the customary November-March period.Board Secretary Jaywant Lele confirmed having received the invite buthedged his bets on accepting. The cause for India’s ponderous reactionto the proposal became clear at the Asian Cricket Council meeting inLahore in May when the Board pulled a rabbit out of the hat byagreeing to take part in the Asian Test Championship. India was set toclash with Pakistan in Lahore from September 12-16, following whichthey would host Bangladesh in another one-off Test from September20-24.That should have really put a definite lid on the Super Challengeprospect but the ACB was given to believe that the BCCI was stillamenable to a change of heart. They were perhaps encouraged by thecontinued coyness of Indian officials who, as it turned out, could notget around the constraint of having committed their players to besimultaneously present in another location. No one can grudge theBoard’s preference for the Asian initiative over the Australian one.Cricketing ties between India and Pakistan have been suspended sinceMay 2000 which is already far longer than the patience of fans acrossthe Radcliffe line can endure.There is of course the minor hiccup of the Indian Government nothaving granted permission yet for their national team’s journey toLahore. Indeed when the ACC decision was announced in Lahore on May28, it had the effect of stirring a hornet’s nest in the form of theexcitable Union Minister for Sport, Uma Bharti.”The BCCI should not take the liberty of making such announcements. Toplay in Pakistan, the BCCI has to first give a written proposal to theSports Ministry which in turn would forward it to the Ministry ofExternal Affairs (MEA). The final decision rests with the MEA. No suchproposal of a tour of Pakistan in September has been received by theMinistry” reacted Ms.Bharti.In return, ACC Chairman Jagmohan Dalmiya brandished a letter from theSports Ministry which proposed the broad policy that ‘India willcontinue to play Pakistan in multilateral tournaments at regularvenues’ including those in either of the two countries. With bothparties still guardedly sizing each other up, there is the tantalisingprospect that, having had two birds in the bush, the Board couldconceivably end up with none in the hand.That would probably suit the Indian players down to the hilt. BoardPresident AC Muthiah’s fax statement to his ACB counterpart mentionsthat he took the decision after holding consultations with his playersand noting their concerns about a calendar chockful with engagements.Indeed, the team’s schedule over the next 13 months, comprising 22Tests and some 40 odd ODIs, is designed to make a stevedore faint.Perhaps it is just as well the Board has heeded that old maxim aboutgeese and golden eggs.