Top billing for ATC

By Our Sports Reporter

KOLKATA, MAY 30. The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has given top billing for the Asian Test Championship in laying out the programme for the next five years. With the ACC deciding to entrust the Asian Cricket Foundation (ACF) with the task of implementing programmes in the continental calendar in its Lahore meeting (May 25), the second edition of the Test championship has been scheduled to start from September 1 with Pakistan taking on Bangladesh. The final will be held at Bangladesh between February 15-19, 2002, this was declared here by the ACF chairman Jagmohan Dalmiya here on Wednesday.

Mr. Dalmiya said that the ACF drew the fixtures after receiving the Indian cricket board's clarification on its government policies regarding cricketing ties with Pakistan. He said that the meeting at Lahore took into consideration the letter produced by the BCCI having the assent of the Union Sports Ministry.

Furnishing copies of the letter that laid out the ``general policy'' of the concerned ministry, the ACF chairman said that as far as the Asian body is concerned there is no reason why the Test championship should be stopped as the Indian government is not against playing ``Pakistan in multilateral tournaments at regular venues.''

Defending ACC's decision of having a concrete agreement from the Indian board, Dalmiya said that there has been considerable tension over India playing Pakistan and hence the idea of having an official missive was deemed necessary before taking a decision.

``The Asian Test Championship is an established tournament involving all the four Test playing nations - India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh - of the continent and there is no reason why the two countries (India and Pakistan) would not be playing as this constitutes a multilateral contest,'' said the chairman.

The BCCI president, Mr. A.C. Muthiah sought the ``government policy guidelines'' in a letter (dated April 25) to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. In its reply (on May 10) the Sports Ministry cleared its stand on letting Indian team play Pakistan in ``multilateral tournaments'' while the letter (signed by joint secretary B.K. Das) said that there was no change in the government policy in restricting the country's participation in ``bilateral contests'' which is considered ``inappropriate in the prevailing circumstances.''

The letter also cleared the Indian junior teams from participating in various tournaments as there was need ``of applying it (the restrictions) to junior levels.''

The ACF chairman also indicated at the decision of having the four Test playing nations ``enter into an agreement with the provision to compensate for the losses suffered by the ACC in the event of non-participation.''

He said this should not looked as a ``penalty but as reimbursement of the financial losses the ACC would be incurring in case of a late pull-out by a participating nation.'' The agreement is likely to be finalised within two months.

The next edition of the Asia Cup will be held in Pakistan ``tentatively in September 2002.'' The specifics of the tournament will be decided ``after ascertaining the international calendar of the participating teams.''

The schedule for the coming five years: Asian Test Championship: Sept. 1-5 (2001) - Pakistan vs Bangladesh (at Pakistan); Sept. 13-17 - India vs Pakistan (Pakistan); Sept. 21-25 India vs Bangladesh (India); Oct. 2-6 Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh (Sri Lanka); Jan. 31- Feb 4. (2002) - Sri Lanka vs Pakistan (Sri Lanka); Feb 7-11 - India vs Sri Lanka (India); Feb 15-19 - Final (Bangladesh).

The junior events: 2001 - Under-19 Asia Cup at Nepal (8-17 October); 2002 - Under-15 Asia Cup (UAE), ACC Trophy (Singapore); 2003 - Under-17 Asia Cup (India), Under-19 Asia Cup (Malaysia); 2004 - Under-15 Asia Cup (Hong Kong), ACC Trophy (Malaysia/Hong Kong); 2005 - Under-17 Asia Cup (Sri Lanka), Under-19 Asia Cup (UAE).

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : 200th first class wicket for Harbhajan
Next     : Mired in a 'smoky' affair