The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Reminiscing the days in Pakistan

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Sunday, Mar 06, 2005

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Sport - Cricket

Reminiscing the days in Pakistan

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, MARCH 5. Ratnakar Shetty, India's tour manager to Pakistan in 2004, was candid in admitting the promises kept by the Pakistan Government on security front and the hospitality of Pakistan cricket fans. "In hindsight, the BCCI decision to play at Karachi and Peshawar turned out to be the right decision," he said during a discussion organised by the Sports Journalists' Association of Mumbai (SJAM) at the Cricket Club of India.

Former manager Rajsingh Dungarpur and ex-India seamer Karsan Ghavri were also there to share their experiences, besides a host of journalists who toured Pakistan.

Ayaz Memon, Sports Editor, Times of India, anchoring the discussion, observed India-Pakistan cricketing contests brought out the best in individuals down the years from Imran Khan, Sunil Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath, Kapil Dev, Sanjay Manjrekar to Anil Kumble, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid. "Matches involving India and Pakistan have seen players in peaking in terms of performances. The current home series too will be a close contest."

"Sachin Tendulkar and V.V. S. Laxman volunteered to do polio eradication advertisements for Pakistan Television. It had raised many an eyebrow as Pakistan players had not figured in promoting socially relevant projects like polio eradication," said Mr. Shetty.

Apology demand

Mr. Dungarpur spoke about walking the tightrope on 1984-85 tour, when Khizer Hayat and Shakoor Rana refused to continue officiating in a match unless they received an apology from Kapil Dev for dissent. "India captain Sunil Gavaskar did not approve of any action from the team management which could be projected as an apology. The PCB and umpires stuck to their stand, forcing me to bring to Pakistan's notice that the 1987 World Cup, to be co-hosted by two nations, would be a non-starter if both the boards were seen incapable of resolving dispute in a five-day game."

Memorable meeting

Ghavri recalled an incident during a memorable meeting with the President, Zia-ul-Haq, to project another view of umpiring decisions. "Captain Gavaskar, after listening to President Haq mentioned the skipper himself and Gundappa Viswanath as two choices whose crossing over would make Pakistan strong enough to beat the world, replied that one Shakoor Rana in the Indian camp was adequate to make his team invincible."

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