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Indian cricket officials on Monday began efforts to resolve a disagreement with their Pakistani counterparts over the allotment of 2011 World Cup games ñ an issue that has the potential to snowball into a major conflict between the two Boards.

Sharad Pawar, President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had a marathon telephonic discussion with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf with the match allotment of the 2011 World Cup being the primary topic on the agenda.

Ashraf threw a bombshell late last week when he said that that the World Cup matches have not yet been allotted to the four host nations and a decision is also yet to be taken on the final of the showpiece event.

It was a surprising statement considering the fact that there had been earlier announcements which suggested that India would stage the 2011 final and would also host the biggest number of the event’s matches.

Both Pakistan and India had showed interest in hosting the World Cup final but the BCCI managed to prevail mainly on the basis of the fact that since Pakistan staged the title match in Lahore 1996 ñ the last time when the spectacle was held in the sub-continent ñ it was now their turn to host the grand finale in 2011.

It was understood then that India would host 22 World Cup matches and the final while Pakistan would get 16 games including one of the semifinals. Sri Lanka were allotted nine matches including a semifinal while six matches and the opening ceremony of the World Cup were to be held in Bangladesh.

The matches were shared previously following meetings between the senior officials of the host countries this summer. Those details were announced during the regime of the previous PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan, who was replaced by Ashraf last month following a few weeks of turmoil in Pakistan cricket.

But Ashraf, who visited India earlier this month to attend the International Cricket Council (ICC) Executive Board meeting, said that he doesn’t agree with those terms. He said that the allotment of matches and the World Cup final will have to be finalised by the joint 2011 World Cup organising committee.

Ashraf added that representatives of the four World Cup hosts would meet in India on December 11 to discuss the preparations for the tournament. The PCB chief’s comments created quite a ripple in India and it was not surprising when Pawar decided to make contact with his Pakistan counterpart.

A PCB source said that the chiefs of the two Boards had a cordial discussion and Pawar assured Ashraf that all the concerned parties would sit down soon to erase any misunderstandings that may have surfaced between the co-hosts of the 2011 World Cup.

The source said that the PCB is looking for an amicable decision on the allotment of matches as it wants to retain the current cordial ties with BCCI, the most influential board in the cricketing world.

One of the reasons why it is important for the 2011 World Cup host countries to get maximum number of matches is the substantial amount of money they would receive from the ICC to stage the games. The ICC would pay US$500,000 per match to the host nation of the World Cup.
Source:The News

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